


Love Lies (but the dead don't)

by Silver_Tree



Series: Solving crimes, catching murderers, creating us [1]
Category: EXO (Band)
Genre: And Jongin has a big-ass crush lmao, Bottom Oh Sehun, Coroner Sehun, Everyone's whipped by Sehun, FBI Agent Jongin, Light Angst, M/M, Murder, Oh Sehun is a Little Shit, Smut, This is almost all about Sekai bickering at each other, Top Kim Jongin | Kai, alternate universe - cop!au, attempted humor, including me, no beta we die like men
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-30
Updated: 2018-07-18
Packaged: 2019-05-31 07:21:50
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 25,688
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15114530
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Silver_Tree/pseuds/Silver_Tree
Summary: When a strange murder occurs in Los Angeles, FBI Special Agent Kim Jongin is sent all the way from Washington to solve it. Unfortunately, the case turns out to be far more complicated than first thought - but with the help of Oh Sehun, a young and cunning coroner with a smile that can charm anyone, they might just be able to catch the murderer.And maybe even fall in love along the way.





	1. Part 1

**Author's Note:**

> First time publishing here at ao3... hopefully it goes well (￣▽￣)ノ Some might already know me from AFF and you can find this and many other stories there as well under the user SilverTree - yes I'm promoting myself lmao - but please do check it out, if you want ₍•͈ᴗ•͈₎
> 
> Also, this story has been inspired by many crime shows on TV and Netflix - mainly Bones. So, there might be some similarities, but I sure hope that the plot is still wholly mine ヾ(´▽｀;)ゝ

“Multiple stabs on his chest and one on his neck, which finally did the job and killed him”, Jongin mutters, leaning down to take a closer look at the body. He lets his fingers roam over the bloodied wound, face completely void of any kind of emotion before turning around to glance at another cop.

“Has the area been scouted?”

“Yes sir”, the older man answers, nodding shortly. The man can hardly look at the body that is twisted in a weird position and is already starting to rot—yeah, not the prettiest sight for sure.

Jongin stands up with a sigh and throws the plastic gloves from his hand into a garbage bag close by. A few seagulls scream above them, and the smell of rotten meat fills the air, making sure to drive anyone with a weaker stomach away.

“Did you find anything useful?”

“Well, everything we thought could help has been sent forward, sir. But if you’d like to take another look, feel free to do so.”

“Mm, I will…”

“No, you will not”, another voice chimes in and Jongin turns around to see Chanyeol, another Special Agent walking towards him with a smug smile plastered on his face. The taller man has a file in his hands and slaps Jongin weakly on the shoulder with it.

“The boss has assigned this case over to me—you have another”, Chanyeol says calmly, glancing at the body that is badly hidden in a lonely alley.

“This looks like an easy case, probably an amateur. Guess I’m going to get my free weekend after all.”

“Wait—why did you get assigned? This case was supposed to be mine”, Jongin grumbles. He knows this case is easy—everything indicates that things were done out of rage and the body was dumped to a pretty public place. A professional wouldn’t have been that lousy when it comes to cleaning up.

“There’s another case for you, like I said”, Chanyeol chuckles, waving the file in front of Jongin’s face, his black hair dancing in the wind. “Here; read over it on your way back to the office. It’s an interesting case, or so I heard.”

The other agent grabs the file, gives one last glance at the body behind him before turning away. “Fine”, Jongin mumbles. “But the next time you steal my case, I’ll fucking shoot you, okay?”

Chanyeol laughs. “Whatever you say.”

“I’m warning you, Park Chanyeol.”

“Yeah yeah, just leave before you destroy evidence. And don’t be so pissed off—I’m sure you’re going to enjoy your new case much, much more.”

Jongin glances back at the taller agent. “What do you mean?”

“Oh, you’ll see once you go back to the office.” There’s a mischievous smile on Chanyeol’s face and all Jongin can think is that he’s definitely _not_ going to enjoy the new case, whatever it is. But it’s not like he can go against his boss if he really did assign Chanyeol to take care of this and some other shitty case in his hands.

“He’ll pay someday, I swear”, the russet agent mumbles before turning around once more to flip a finger. Chanyeol smiles brightly and waves at him, the other policeman next to him looking confused.

Is this _really_ how FBI Special Agents behave around each other—that’s probably the question in his mind. And yeah, Jongin can confirm that yes—this is pretty much how things for them go.

At least when you’re Kim Jongin, the number one hot-blooded agent in the whole FBI.

 

* * *

  

“There has been a new murder in Los Angeles and I want you to take the case, Jongin”, his boss, Wu Yifan, calmly says from his position on the other side of the table, arms crossed over his chest.

“Los Angeles? That’s… why so far away? Can’t they assign their own cops to take care of it? What makes it our problem?” the frustrated Special Agent asks at that, not even bothering to sit down.

 _Damn_ , he’s pissed off. First he loses an easy case—and to _Chanyeol_ out of all people—and now it seems like he has to take a hard one that is miles away from home—did Yifan really think that he was going to just agree?

“Well, I got this case from above, so I can’t really complain. And you’re the only one I can assign to take care of it since my other men are busy here in Washington DC.”

“Chanyeol was free until you put him in _my_ case”, Jongin points out.

His boss shrugs his shoulders nonchalantly. “That case was his all along. You just happened to be closer to the body, so I asked you to head there first. And now, before you start complaining—” Yifan gives the russet man a pointed look, not missing how Jongin inhales quite loudly, preparing to complain. “—I’m telling you that you don’t have any other choice. You’re flying to Los Angeles tomorrow morning and you will solve that case. We can’t have the press finding out how FBI can’t even solve one murder.”

“We solve countless cases every day! Why don’t you show them those and just leave me alone?”

“It’s not that easy”, Yifan sighs, starting to get irritated as well. “You’ll see the problem with this case once you fly to Los Angeles.”

Jongin has to ponder his chances for a moment. It’s obvious that his boss is already quite annoyed and will probably start yelling and threatening him if Jongin says _no_ one more time. But there is so much more he could do in the weekend than solve some murder that happened in a city miles away from Washington! Jongin bets that there are bunch of agents free—Yifan just wants to annoy him.

The reason for that might be the fact that Jongin nearly blew up a house last week and risked some civilians—but still! This. Is. Not. Fair!

“I—” the russet agent starts but before he gets any further, there’s a soft knock on the door.

“Ah, it looks like he’s here.” Yifan stands up and straightens his suit, giving Jongin a tight smile. “Right on time too.”

“Who?” Jongin gives his boss a confused look as the older man heads for the door.

His boss turns to give him a quick glance, brown eyes mysterious. “Your new working partner, of course. Didn’t Chanyeol mention him?”

 _He did not,_ Jongin thinks, spinning around completely. _And I’m going to kick his ass for that._

Despite, who even said that Jongin needs a partner? He works fine without a one, has been for the past two years—so why now? Yifan didn’t seem to have a problem with him working alone before.

“So Jongin, here’s your new partner. Please be nice to him”, Yifan then says, drawing the russet’s attention back on him. “And Oh Sehun, here’s Special Agent Kim Jongin.”

The man who steps into the office is tall and young, friendly brown eyes twinkling as they meet Jongin’s. The sinfully pink lips curl into a gentle smile, soft raven hair framing the sharply sculptured face and for a moment, the russet agent forgets how to breathe.

Luckily his mind gets back on track quickly and he turns to Yifan. “ _Him?_ ” he asks, pointing at the newcomer who doesn’t mind that, at all. Instead, the probably younger man tilts his head a little and just grins, the sunglasses on top of his head nearly falling down.

Yifan nods curtly. “Yep.”

Jongin takes another look at the man who now waves at him, his smile turning mischievous. That only makes the russet agent frown.

“You’re assigning a _kid_ to work with me? And where is his gun—what is even with that attire?” Jongin gives a pointed look at the man who’s wearing simple black jeans and a grey hoodie, while both the russet and his boss are wearing suits. “Couldn’t you have at least given me someone a little more experienced? I don’t have time to protect anyone if it gets dangerous in the field!”

“Sehun is very experienced”, Yifan tells him, a frown of his own plastered on his face as he makes his way back to his desk. “In his own job, of course.”

“What do you mean?”

“You see”, this Sehun-guy speaks up for the first time, his calm voice somehow taking over the whole room. “I’m not a Special Agent, Jongin.”

“What then— _wait,_ who allowed you to call me that? It’s agent Kim to you, kid.”

Sehun grins, patting Jongin weakly on the shoulder as he walks past him to lean on Yifan’s desk. “We’re at the same age, _agent Kim_.”

Jongin tries to ignore the sarcasm dripping in the raven’s voice, his eye twitching in annoyance. “Then what the hell are you? A lawyer? Some kind of forensic investigator?”

“You almost got it.” The other clicks his tongue, sending a dazzling smile to Jongin. It almost leaves the russet agent speechless. How can someone’s smile be brighter than the fucking sun?

“Sehun is a forensic pathologist—a coroner”, Yifan cuts in, rubbing his forehead tiredly. He’s had enough of Jongin for today. “And he’s coming to Los Angeles with you to examine the body. _And_ before you complain, once again, he knows how to defend himself.”

“But?” Jongin raises a brow at his boss, knowing there’s more.

“But his safety is still part of your responsibility. We’re borrowing him from a high-class institute and they want him back, _alive_.” Now Yifan gives a glare at Jongin, a pen pointed at the russet agent. “So, _behave_ and make sure to bring him back with you. In one piece.”

“I actually know very good ways of dismembering a body”, Sehun pipes up again, playing with the headphones around his neck. “I can teach you some day if you want, Jongin.”

The russet agent narrows his eyes at the other who just continues to smile calmly, his brown eyes glimmering with mischief. Jongin knows he’s being toyed with—but he won’t let the other get the best of him, that’s for sure.

“Dismember someone and I’ll arrest you, kid. And it’s agent Kim to you.”

Sehun laughs and that sound alone could make even Marilyn Monroe cower in shame. “Kinky, are we now?”

 _Forget it,_ Jongin thinks. “Say one more thing and I’ll make sure you’ll miss tomorrow’s flight.”

The raven-haired man just tilts his head a little, still smiling, Jongin’s threat obviously going to deaf ears. But Yifan seems to be more than happy with his answer.

“So you’re going—great! Then how about the two of you go and pack your things. Here are your tickets—” the tallest out of the three slams two paper tickets on his desk. “—it’s an early flight so make sure not to oversleep, kids. Now out of my office before I really get angry.”

Sehun grabs one of the tickets, hopping of Yifan’s desk with a soft hum. “Lovely”, the man says as he glances over the piece of paper. “Looks like we got economy class.”

The raven’s brown eyes are like stars in the night sky when he turns to look at Jongin, voice way too light for the other’s liking. “This is going to be fun, wouldn’t you say, Jongin?”

With a tired sigh, Jongin picks up his own ticket. “It’s agent Kim to you.”

 

* * *

 

“So tell me, Jongin, was it your dream to become an FBI agent or did you dream of being an astronaut or maybe a hockey player?” Sehun asks, glancing at the grumpy looking russet next to him.

The Special Agent’s jaw tightens, and his knuckles turn white from how hard he holds onto the steering wheel. “I grew up in South Korea, I had no fucking idea I would end up being an FBI agent.”

“How did you end up being a one, then?”

“That is none of your business, kid. Now shut up and let me concentrate on driving or we’ll never find the crime-scene.”

Sehun chuckles, his pink lips stretched into a laid-back grin. “Mysterious—I like that. Oh and turn left from here, okay?”

Jongin turns to send the other a glare but follows his instructions anyway. For some reason it seems like Sehun knows his way around here, he has been guiding Jongin around the whole time after giving just one short glance at the address given to them.

“You’re from Los Angeles, aren’t you?” the russet agent asks just as Sehun gives him another instruction, glancing out of the black car’s window.

“I suppose you can say that… ah, I see the crime-scene, stop the car here.”

The raven head is out of the car before Jongin has even fully parked the car. _Maybe I hit a nerve?_ the russet wonders as he watches Sehun observe their surroundings in silence. They’re close enough to a beach that Jongin can smell salt in the air and hear the people, but far enough to have buildings blocking the way.

Jongin has stopped the car in front of a row of what seem like beach houses, the ones you can rent for a vacation or something. There are a couple of other cars parked there and bystanders give curious glances at the house that is lined with yellow tape. _Way to be discreet,_ Jongin thinks, shaking his head as he and Sehun head for the two cops standing outside.

“FBI”, Jongin shows them his badge shortly. “And here’s my partner, Oh Sehun.”

“Aw, you consider me to be your partner already”, the pathologist jokes, grinning as one of the cops lifts the yellow tape to let them past. “I thought it would take forever but all it took was a nice flight together and some heart-to-heart talk. How nice.”

Jongin wants to strangle the other. “Being partners doesn’t make us friends, kid. And this is just a one-time deal—once we solve this case, that’s _it_ , got it?” He sends the other a questioning look as they step into the house.

Sehun continues to smile, like he always does. “Whatever you say, Jongin.”

“How many times do I have to say, it’s _agent Kim_ —oh whoa, that’s a strong smell”, the russet agent cuts himself off, bringing a hand to shield his nose from the disgusting smell of rotting meat that attacks them as soon as they step in. Sehun seems unfazed as he continues on, his smile never faltering.

The dead body isn’t hard to find but once Jongin sees it, he can tell why Yifan said that it’s a special case.

“Now this is what I call an overkill”, he mutters, earning a laugh from Sehun who then whistles, eyes scanning over the bloodied room.

Instead of there being just one dead body, there’s two. One which has been ripped apart and the body parts have been scattered all around the room, legs on the bed, one arm under it, the other one lying on the carpet. Rest of the body seems to have been thrown into the corner, the head set on the nightstand, empty eyes staring back at Jongin.

“That is creepy.” _Yifan could’ve mentioned this,_ Jongin thinks, rolling his eyes at the sight in front of him.

The other body is lying on the floor close by the arm, completely in one piece and only one apparent wound on her body. She’s curled into herself, strawberry-blonde hair covering her face and arms wrapped around her stomach.

“A man and a female”, Sehun says, examining the legs with a thoughtful look on his face. Jongin can’t help but grimace a little as he lifts the other leg up and measures it. When did he even get those plastic gloves? “He was approximately six-foot-tall, in a good shape too.”

“Okay… so what else do we got here?”

The raven-haired sends Jongin a smile. “Why don’t you go and do what you Special Agents usually do while I do this yucky part. I’ll inform you once I’m done.”

“No, I’ll rather stay here”, the russet agent declines, leaning on the doorway calmly.

Sehun rolls his eyes before heading to examine the chest and lower-back area of the dismembered man. “You know”, he says as he slides his fingers carefully over the bare chest. “Partners are supposed to trust each other. And I would never destroy evidence—I’m a coroner. I follow the law, Jongin, so if you’re worried about that—”

“I’m not.”

The other glances at him. “So, what is it?”

“I’m just interested in seeing how good you are. Yifan wouldn’t have taken you in for no reason—at least I hope so.”

Jongin is once again taken by surprise when instead of getting pissed at him, Sehun just smiles. “Is that so? Then if you get to watch me work, I’ll get to come with you to interrogate people too, right?”

To that the russet agent shakes his head. “Not happening; it could get dangerous.”

“Ahaha, don’t lie to me, Jongin. That’s not what you’re worried about, is it?” Sehun’s eyes twinkle with knowledge and the Special Agent supposes that he should stop underestimating the other in certain things. “You’re just worried that I’ll get in your way, aren’t you?”

Jongin can’t deny that but Sehun just chuckles.

“Thought so. You agents are always the same”, the forensic pathologist says softly before glancing at the removed head.

“Hey, what’s that supposed to mean—”

“Are you the FBI agent promised to us?” a voice from behind Jongin suddenly calls out and the russet spins around to meet eyes with a man slightly taller than he is. He’s wearing a suit too, so Jongin supposes that he’s part of the local forces.

“Yeah”, he nods, offering a stiff hand. “Special Agent Kim Jongin.” He then points at the kneeling raven head behind him, who gives a short wave while still smiling that dazzling smile of his. Though, Jongin must say that the charm is a little different when Sehun’s wearing bloodied gloves and is sitting next to a dismembered body.

“He’s Oh Sehun, a coroner helping with the case.”

The newcomer nods shortly, his body tense as he eyes the room. “I’m Choi Siwon from the Los Angeles police department. I can see that you’ve already… started.”

“Of course”, Sehun answers with a cheerful tone. “These bodies have been here for a couple of days already. Actually, I’m estimating that the time of death was a week ago, but that’s just a rough guess. Once we move them to the lab, I can give you the exact time.”

“What seems to be the cause of death?” Jongin asks then, moving closer for the first time. He isn’t that bothered by dead bodies anymore—and he has seen worse than this.

“Well, for the male it’s a little harder to estimate right now. There are multiple stab wounds on his chest-area, but I saw some on his legs and arms as well. He bled to death, that’s for sure, but I can’t yet tell what was the finishing blow.” Sehun stands up and heads to the woman’s body.

“The female was aged between twenty-five and thirty, and she was killed by one fatal blow between her ribs. The hit seems to also have partly pierced her left lung and caused internal bleeding which killed her in seconds. The bruises on her arms and a few broken ribs indicate struggle”, the raven-haired man tells calmly, his smile a little fainter but still there.

“You can tell all that by just looking at their bodies?” Siwon asks in surprise and Sehun grins.

“Naturally.”

Jongin rolls his eyes at the two, not missing the way Siwon’s eyes scan over Sehun’s body. He admits that the raven-haired pathologist is good-looking—hell, he’s far more than _simply_ good-looking but the other cop could at least try to be subtler with his looks. It’s pissing Jongin off.

“So, the man suffered a violent death, but it seems like the woman got off easier. This could have been done out of jealousy, that’s always one of the strongest motives of a murder.”

“And from where do you get that?” Sehun asks, not seeming impressed. Well, he’s a scientist—Jongin supposes that making hunches without real evidence is not really his thing.

“Gut instinct”, the russet agent simply answers, staring at the badly bruised chest of the other murder victim. “This man could’ve been a hook-up or something and once her _actual_ boyfriend found out, he decided to take matters in his own hands. And damn, he was angry.”

“What about this woman? Why is she dead, then?”

“Accidental”, Jongin says, glancing at the woman’s body. “Wrong place, wrong time, I guess. Maybe she found her boyfriend dismembering her hook-up’s body and was trying to stop the murderer or maybe threatened to go to the police—so she was silenced.”

“Agent Kim could be right”, Siwon chimes in, nodding. “She only has one wound while this guy has been completely dismembered, no respect given to his remains. She again, was left alone. It doesn’t seem like the killer even touched her body.”

Sehun stares at the two for a moment, still kneeling next to the woman’s body. His brown eyes are cold and still unimpressed, and his smile is almost completely gone—until suddenly, it comes back, amused.

“Don’t get hasty now. We need solid evidence”, the raven head says as he stands up and takes off his bloodied gloves. “Mr. Choi, you can send your team in to take pictures of the whole crime-scene and then the bodies can be taken away.”

“And what will you do?” the taller cop asks as Sehun walks past him, Jongin shortly following along.

The raven-haired pathologist grins. “I didn’t get to eat proper breakfast, so I was thinking of visiting a café. Jongin, are you in?”

“Sure, and it’s agent Kim to you”, the russet agent answers, still not liking the way Sehun addresses him so casually. But he is quite hungry too—the food in the airplane was crap, like always, and he hasn’t eaten any real food since last night.

“Wait—can you two _actually_ eat after seeing _that_?”

Jongin slips his sunglasses on and Sehun turns to send one last smile at Siwon. “Totally. And right now, I crave for some blueberry pancakes and coffee. Feel free to join, if you want, Mr. Choi.”

 _Don’t you dare to agree,_ is Jongin’s first thought. The russet agent even sends a glare at the other cop from behind the safety of his sunglasses. He might not enjoy Sehun’s company but Jongin can get used to him—but one person is enough, two is too much. He doesn’t need any more contacts, okay? Especially some cops who can’t even do their job without the help of FBI.

Luckily to him, Siwon disagrees quite fast.

Sehun shrugs his shoulders, flashing his white teeth in the sunlight. “Well, your lost. And hey Jongin, can I drive?”

“Not a chance, kid”, the russet agent says as he heads towards the waiting car, Sehun right behind him.

“I’m not a kid, Jongin, we’re both twenty-six and I think you need to acknowledge that.”

“Whatever you say, kid.”

“And whatever helps you to sleep at night, old man.”

That makes the Special Agent scoff but Sehun just laughs as he takes his position next to Jongin.

 

* * *

 

 Jongin is scrolling through his phone when a waiter brings his and Sehun’s breakfast—well, lunch. Steaming pancakes for the raven head and bacon and eggs for Jongin, with black coffee, of course.

“Now I understand why you’re so bitter”, Sehun chuckles, watching as Jongin takes a sip of his coffee. “You drink your coffee black—makes you a bitter person.”

“Well, at least I don’t ruin mine with an excessive amount of sugar”, the FBI agent argues back, glaring at Sehun who smiles and sips his caramel latte in peace.

“I’m just sweet and you hate to admit that.”

 _There’s nothing sweet in you,_ Jongin almost answers but finds himself holding back, slightly concerned about hurting Sehun’s feelings. Despite, the raven-haired pathologist is almost nothing _but_ sweet.

“Well”, he starts a new conversation after a moment of silence, poking his scrambled eggs while Sehun concentrates on watching the beach that is right outside the café’s window. “At least it’s highly possible that Yifan was wrong about the case. It doesn’t seem that complicated, now does it?”

Sehun glances at him. “Only if your theory about this whole jealousy-thing is correct. Otherwise, this could be really complicated because dismembering a body like that is not normal. Even crimes done out of pure hate don’t usually go that far.”

“What makes you say that? I’ve seen pretty fucked up things done purely out of hatred.”

“It takes a psychopath to dismember someone’s body like that”, Sehun says simply, lowering his mug and for the first time, Jongin sees that the smile has completely left the other’s lips. But once again—it’s back before he even knows. “Or a professional, like me.”

Jongin gives him a long look. “ _Right_ … are you sure you’re not a psychopath?”

The raven head laughs, and heads turn around in the café. Though, Jongin’s glare is quick to also make them turn away.

“I’m emotionally frigid when it comes to that stuff, Jongin, nothing more. I’m used to it, like you. And don’t deny it—you didn’t really even flinch when you saw the bodies and you seem to be feeling just fine. Mr. Choi again, he seemed ready to throw up.”

The agent clicks his tongue, brown eyes never leaving Sehun’s. He must admit that the other is turning out to be more interesting with every moment he spends with him. “Huh—you’re quite observant, then.”

“Don’t sound so surprised, Jongin.”

_“Agent Kim.”_

Sehun laughs once more and Jongin nearly throws his fork at the man behind them, who’s staring at the raven head a little too long for it to be normal. Why does it seem like Sehun draws everyone’s attention? Is he that special?

 _Maybe_ , a voice somewhere in the agent’s mind says. There is definitely something different in him, Jongin’s just not sure what. Is it the smile that puts the sun in shame or maybe the laugh that could wake up the dead—whatever it is, Jongin is curious. A little, at least.

But before they manage to discuss the case any further or argue about what Sehun should call Jongin, the agent’s phone rings. It’s Siwon.

“Yep?” the russet answers, wiping his mouth quickly.

_“We have a lead.”_

A short moment later, Jongin and Sehun are walking through crowded streets, the Special Agent scrolling through the new information Siwon gave to him. “The victims have been identified as Emma and Neil Winestone.”

“A married couple?”

“Yeah, apparently so. But I think they weren’t in such good terms.”

“Another speculation?” The raven-haired pathologist gives him a long look, his smile turning a little cunning. “Why do you say so?”

“They weren’t wearing their rings”, Jongin answers calmly, thinking back at the bodies. “Either those rings were stolen, or they just didn’t want to wear them. But enough of that—apparently our male victim used to work at this club called _Romantic Universe_.”

“So?” Sehun asks, raising a brow.

“He and his boss there had a fight possibly just a few hours prior to his death. Siwon went to visit the woman’s parents to tell them the news and asked us to go and interrogate the club’s owner. So—" The russet agent stops by their car, glancing at Sehun. “—let’s go and find out if his boss is a psychopath.”

 

 

While they’re driving towards their new destination, Jongin allows Sehun to scroll through the information on his phone. He can’t help but notice how the raven’s expression turns sour after a moment and Sehun lowers the phone with a sigh, his smile turning tight.

“What’s wrong?” Jongin asks.

“Nothing”, is the simple answer he receives—not that he expected anything else. Although Sehun is talkative, Jongin still thinks he is reluctant to tell about his private life—which he obviously is.

Not that the russet agent has told anything personal, either.

“Actually”, Sehun speaks up after a moment, his smile turning nervous and the look in his brown eyes even slightly apologetic. “We might have a problem.”

Jongin frowns, glancing at the other. “Why?”

The raven-haired pathologist shows him a picture of the club’s boss, a fairly young man with blonde hair and blue eyes.

“That’s my brother.”

 

* * *

 

“Your brother”, Jongin says when he parks the car in front of Romantic Universe. “Owns this club and is possibly the murderer.”

“Mm, possibly”, Sehun calmly hums, still staring at the picture.

“You two don’t even look alike. He’s not even Asian!”

For that the raven head gives him an are-you-stupid kind of look. “That’s because we’re not blood related brothers. He’s my foster brother, Mark Johnson.”

“Then why are you named Oh Sehun and not Johnson?”

Sehun sighs, his smile very faint and eyes glimmering with slight annoyance. “Because I didn’t want to take their name, it’s simple as that.”

They head towards the club’s door and as soon as Sehun flashes the porter his signature smile, the door is opened for them—even Jongin gets in without trouble which does not usually happen.

Because the clock is nowhere near nighttime, the club is pretty empty. The music is nothing Jongin expects from one of Los Angeles top nightclubs, it’s slow and sounds a little like some movie soundtrack—but that’s not really what he should pay attention at.

Sehun, surprisingly, takes the lead and heads straight for the bar counter, cheerfully greeting the worker behind. Jongin is preparing to flash his badge but with the help of a charming pathologist, he might not actually need to do that.

“I was wondering if the boss is available right now. We would like to speak with him.”

The worker seems completely enchanted by Sehun’s smile despite seeming like a straight guy—yet once again, one glare from Jongin is able to stop the man from looking any lower than Sehun’s shoulders.

“May I ask why?” they’re asked, of course.

“I’m here to offer him some service”, Sehun answers without missing a beat. “And this guy is with me.”

“S-service? What kind of—”

The raven-haired pathologist leans closer over the counter, playing with the worker’s tie with a coy smile on his lips. “Just let us see him, pretty please.”

“Of course! Please come this way”, the man agrees quickly, spinning around and motioning Sehun and Jongin to follow. The raven head sends the agent a soft smile and Jongin shrugs his shoulders—maybe Sehun’s not that bad, after all. Unless he comes on the way, Jongin actually thinks that having him as a partner is not nearly as bad as he first thought.

They’re lead up some shiny stairs and onto the second floor, where the worker named Jimmy leads them to the VIP-area. He disappears for a moment then but returns quickly to inform that Johnson will now see them.

Jongin steps into the new room first, a hand on his hidden gun—just in case—Sehun’s warm presence right behind him. The Special Agent comes to an abrupt stop when he realizes that they’ve been lead to a bedroom where there’s a naked woman lying on the bed, staring back at him and a half-naked man standing by big glass windows facing the sea.

Sehun crashes into him, groaning a little when his face comes in contact with Jongin’s stiff back. His touch feels like fire on the russet’s skin.

“So”, the man by the window says slowly. “What is this so-called service I asked for?”

“Actually”, Sehun speaks up before Jongin can. “There’s no service for you, brother.”

The blonde man spins around so fast that the FBI agent swears he heard his neck crack. “Sehun? Is that you?” Mark Johnson asks, his blue eyes wide open and the cigarette between his lips nearly falling.

“Long time no see, wouldn’t you say, Mark.”

The blonde’s eyes brighten as soon as he fully recognizes his foster brother and he heads towards them with open arms. Jongin takes a step to the side to let Mark hug Sehun who doesn’t seem that happy about it though.

“How many years has it been, Sehun? Three? Four?” the blue-eyed man asks with a grin on his face. _That smile doesn’t come even close to how beautiful Sehun’s is,_ Jongin finds himself thinking and nearly slaps himself right after.

 _Beautiful?_ Nah. A devil’s smile would be more accurate.

“Six”, Sehun simply says, his smile obviously forced when they separate. “Six years, Mark.”

“And you’re doing good! Look at you!” The blonde obviously ignores the edge in Sehun’s tone and instead runs his hands all over the raven’s body. “You’ve grown so much! That forensic school or wherever you left seemed to do a good job! You’re a man now.”

“I’ve always been a man, Mark.”

“Ah—but this snappy side of you hasn’t changed at all. Glad to… see that.”

 _Awkward,_ is all Jongin can think before finally making his official cameo. “Alright, enough of this chitchat. You’re Mark Johnson, right?”

The blonde man turns to look at him, eyes questioning. “Sehun, is this your boyfriend or something? He’s kind of rude, mom wouldn’t approve.”

Jongin completely misses how Sehun’s smile falters the slightest when their mother is mentioned.

“I’m not his boyfriend”, the russet agent grumbles, stopping Sehun from saying whatever he was about to. He then takes out his FBI badge and flashes it to the man. “I’m from the FBI and we have a couple of questions for you, Mark Johnson.”

Mark immediately turns his now blown wide eyes to the raven-haired pathologist standing calmly next to Jongin. “Sehun, what is this?”

“Answer his question honestly and we’ll leave before you even know”, is what the raven head says, patting Mark on the shoulder weakly. “Lie and you’ll just cause more trouble to yourself and us. And Jongin can be quite hard to handle… so please cooperate.”

“Shut up”, Jongin snaps at Sehun.

Mark scowls, now turning to face Jongin. “Hey, don’t talk to my brother like that.”

“None of that bullshit, Mark dear”, Sehun calls as he goes around to sit next to the woman on the bed, gently smiling at her. “I don’t really care about you and you don’t care about me, so save the act and just answer the questions. Oh, and nice to meet you, miss. My name is Oh Sehun, and please don’t mind us, this shouldn’t take long.”

The woman smiles brightly back at Sehun, seeming pleased—an effect the raven head seems to have on anyone. Jongin can’t help but stare at him and the woman for a moment, observing how kindly the pathologist acts with her.

He’s more than little surprised by how good Sehun is with people. The doctors and other scientists he has met before were more antisocial and all the talking has always been left to Jongin. But this peculiar coroner seems to be good in everything he does, from his actual work to conversing with people.

“Stop ogling my brother or I’ll kick you out, FBI agent or not”, Mark seethes suddenly, cutting through Jongin’s thoughts. The agent can be glad that the blonde is talking quietly so Sehun didn’t hear—the teasing would never stop otherwise.

“Good luck trying”, the Special Agent snorts before taking out his phone and showing a picture of Neil Winestone. “Do you know this man?”

Mark gives one look at the photo before looking back at Jongin, unimpressed. “Yeah—that’s Neil. I fired him last Sunday.”

“Why?”

“Because he punched a customer and got drunk while working. I do not accept that here. Now, may I ask why you’re asking about him? Did he do something stupid?”

“Maybe”, Sehun says as he braids the woman’s brown hair. “He’s dead, you see. And so is his wife.”

Mark’s eyes widen and the woman obviously tenses, but a couple of comforting words from Sehun seem to calm her down quickly.

“Neil’s… d-dead? And Emma too?” the blonde man asks, his tone wavering a little. _Seems like genuine surprise,_ Jongin notes, frowning as he observes the man’s reactions.

“Yeah, they were murdered about a week ago. Actually, we have a reason to believe that they were killed last Sunday, the night you two were spotted arguing. Now give me a good reason not to accuse you for killing him after firing him”, Jongin growls out, taking a threatening step forward. He doesn’t really like Mark so scaring him brings a little bit of satisfaction to the russet agent.

“Because I didn’t do it!” the blonde of course says. That’s what they all always say. “I fired him and that was it—of course we argued, he was drunk and wanted to pick a fight with me. The last time I saw him was when one of the security guards dragged him outside!”

“What did you do after firing him?” Jongin asks.

Mark spreads his arms in defeat, still on defense. “I continued to work—you can ask from my other employees, I can give you names and numbers. But I swear, I had nothing to do with Neil and Emma’s murder. I don’t even understand why—they weren’t bad people, though Neil had a temper.”

“Yeah, we’ll take those names and numbers—also the name and number of the security guard who took Neil out”, the FBI agent nods, taking out some paper. “Now tell us a little bit more about Neil and possibly Emma, if you can.”

Mark turns to give Sehun an unsure glance, but the raven head pays no attention to him, only continues to braid the woman’s hair. Seeing that his brother is not going to support him, Mark turns back to Jongin and nods.

“Fine. I’ll tell you everything I know about them.”

 

* * *

 

Finding out that he and Sehun have to share a hotel room is not the worst moment of the day. The worst moment was finding out that no one working at the Romantic Universe-club could tell them anything useful.

Apparently, Neil Winestone had been a hard-working guy with a passion towards art. Only in the couple last weeks had he started to really drink and get in trouble because his and Emma’s relationship hadn’t gone so well, because the wife wanted to move away to some cheaper city.

Jongin sighs, rubbing his forehead tiredly. None of the information gathered today seems to really tell them anything. They’re still at a dead-end.

“It’s just the first day, relax”, Sehun’s melodic voice chuckles and the russet lifts his gaze to see the other coming in to their shared hotel room. “Tomorrow we’ll just have to search elsewhere.”

“Yeah… we should meet up with Siwon and discuss how much he has found out about the victims through their families.”

Sehun nods, agreeing. “That might be the wisest way to go. But hey… to the problem at hand. There’s only one bed.”

“I’ve noticed”, Jongin grumbles. He’s sitting on _that_ bed right now.

The raven head rolls his eyes, his smile gentle. “I’m glad you did, otherwise I would be worried. But what I mean, is that who is _taking_ the bed? Because I am fine if we share, it’s _clearly_ big enough for two people—but you don’t seem like the guy to share anything, no offense.”

None taken, really, because Jongin is exactly that kind of a guy. He hates sharing.

“We can switch”, he suggests and Sehun gives him a questioning look, not quite getting it.

“I mean—this could take a couple of days to solve, so if I sleep on the couch tonight, you’ll sleep on it tomorrow. Is that fair?”

The pathologist nods, seemingly fine with Jongin’s suggestion—but the shit-eating grin on his face says otherwise. “I’m fine with that… but don’t tell me you’re afraid to sleep with another man.” Sehun takes a brave step forward until he’s standing very close to Jongin, leaning down so the russet agent can even smell the gentle scent of flowers and some cologne the other is using.

And it’s _very_ distracting.

He clears his throat and looks away from the piercing brown eyes in front of him. “I’m not scared to sleep with a man.”

“Oh, so you’re gay?”

Jongin’s ears turn red. “I never said that!” he nearly yells, suddenly wanting to punch Sehun on the face. The pathologist must see it on his face as he takes a step back and laughs lightly.

“I know, I’m just teasing you. You should stop being such an easy target, Jongin.” The other’s grin then turns into a more gentler and warmer smile, making Jongin’s annoyance disappear nearly completely. “I’m fine with your suggestion; we can switch. I am, by no means, here to make you uncomfortable. I’m just helping you to solve a murder, that’s all.”

A moment of silence before Sehun snickers. “Okay, _maybe_ I’m here to make you just a _little_ uncomfortable.”

Jongin scowls darkly before standing up. “Fine, we can share the bed”, he says, glaring at the raven head who has already headed for the couch.

He is given a surprised—but smug—look. “What changed your mind, agent Kim?”

 _Oh, so now you call me that,_ Jongin rolls his eyes, feeling his head throb because of the amount of self-control it’s taking from him to not kick Sehun’s ass.

To be honest, he changed his mind because otherwise, he feels like he’ll lose to Sehun. The raven head is making things seem as if Jongin is somehow bothered to share a bed—c’mon, they’re just sharing it, it’s not like they’re going to sleep together or something—in a sexual way, that is.

 _Stop._ The Special Agent nearly slaps himself for probably the tenth time that day. _Just stop right there._

So, Jongin needs to prove that he’s not bothered—that he’s fine sharing a bed with another man.

“Nothing”, he answers Sehun slowly, but the other doesn’t clearly believe him—might have something to do with the fact that Jongin doesn’t look into his eyes as he speaks. “I just thought that we both need rest and that the couch isn’t the best place to sleep on.”

Sehun’s smile widens. “How nice of you to spare a thought for me, Jongin, I appreciate that. But seriously, I’m used to getting little sleep, so I’m fine with the couch—”

Jongin stops the other by suddenly grabbing his wrist. “I said it’s _fine_ , so don’t chicken out now, kid.”

They stare at each other for a long, silent moment, Jongin’s fiery eyes poring into Sehun’s. The raven head obviously observes him carefully, taking in every detail of the agent’s reactions, searching for signs of regret or hesitation.

Surprisingly, Sehun sees none of that.

“Has anyone told you that you are a very competitive person, Jongin?”

The Special Agent smirks. “Many times.”

He then lets go of Sehun’s hand and the pathologist takes a step back right away, taking away the blazing warmth Jongin swears he radiates.

“Even the stupidest of things, I swear…” The raven head sighs and shakes his head before smiling. “But alright then, we’ll share the bed. Now, I’m going to take a shower first.”

 

 

About an hour later, Jongin finds himself staring at the ceiling of their hotel room, eyes wide open and someone’s warm body next to his. They _might’ve_ miscalculated the size of the bed—there’s nearly no space between them and every time Sehun moves, Jongin can feel either his body brush slightly against him.

And that if anything leaves the agent uncomfortable. There’s just something weird in the way Sehun touches him—it leaves behind a burning feeling that Jongin can’t understand. It’s not necessarily bad, but it’s very confusing.

“Is that what you’re planning on doing the whole night? You look like you’re wishing for that ceiling to fall on top of us right now”, Sehun’s voice quietly says and Jongin tilts his head just the slightest to the left. The raven-haired coroner is observing him once again, a smile forming on his lips as soon as their eyes meet.

“You’re not doing a very good job convincing me that you’re alright with this, Jongin. Actually, you’re acting like one of my old friends when he found out that he’s gay. Wait, what do they call it…? A panicked gay—right, that’s the correct—”

“Shut up and just sleep”, Jongin grumbles to that, turning away before Sehun can see the redness of his cheeks. He rolls on his other side, so his back is facing Sehun and after a moment of silence, he can hear the other sigh before chuckling.

“Alright. Goodnight, Jongin.”

“It’s agent Kim”, is all the tired russet can answer to that. Sehun’s light chuckle is the last sound before complete silence finally falls upon them.

 

* * *

 

The next time Jongin sees Sehun is at the morgue of the local medical institute that so gladly lent them their laboratories (in the hope of getting FBI’s favor, of course, and some much-needed attention from the media). The raven-haired coroner is cutting up the female’s body just as Jongin steps in with Siwon—and Jongin’s not really surprised that the first thing the other cop does is go to the nearest trash bin to throw away the rest of his breakfast.

“Careful”, Sehun calls sweetly, giving them a glance. “First times are always hard.”

“I’ve seen dead people before”, Siwon grumbles, groaning in disgust as he glances at the bodies on the metal tables again just in time to see Sehun completely remove the skin on the woman’s chest. “Just—not like this.”

The pathologist gives him an apologetic look. “It helps you if you think about it objectively. Like I do—just another body to cut up, right?” Sehun grins and Jongin’s sure that now Siwon has even a harder time to think objectively.

“Yeah well, enough about that”, the FBI agent cuts in, walking up to the raven head who continues his work. “Any new information?”

“The time of death I have confirmed to be last Sunday, around eleven pm. Our male victim was, unsurprisingly, killed first. And what makes things maybe even a little more disgusting, this guy was alive when his legs were removed. And there’s no signs of drugs, so there’s a very high possibility that he was wide awake when it happened.”

Sehun takes Jongin to the dismembered body, and points at the area of his knees—anything lower than that is gone. “He definitely died from this”, the pathologist says, pointing at the parts where the legs have been cut off. “The rest of the stab wounds on his body are not actually that deep, but certainly would’ve killed him if he hadn’t run for help. However, the excessive bleeding these wounds caused killed him very fast. Painful indeed, but he was gone in mere seconds.”

“That’s a nice way to put it”, the Special Agent mumbles, putting his coffee mug on the table only to have Sehun steal it.

The other grimaces at the bitterness of black coffee right away. “A little milk wouldn’t hurt, you know?”

“Yeah well, I drink my coffee black and I wasn’t planning on giving it to you.”

Sehun grins and offers the now bloodied cup back. “You can have it, if you want to.”

Jongin raises his hands in defeat. “Nope, no thanks. Now, can you identify the murder weapon?”

“A kitchen knife.” The raven head turns away from Jongin once more, reaching out for something on his equipment table before turning back, a simple kitchen knife in his hand—something you can find from any kitchen.

“A what?” Jongin asks, staring at the knife in disbelief.

“A kitchen knife, I said. That’s how the murderer started at least, but because a mere kitchen knife does not cut through bones just like that, he switched to something better—which I have not yet identified.” Sehun shrugs his shoulders nonchalantly.

“If you ask for the investigators to check the kitchen equipment, I’m pretty sure you won’t find this kind of knife. Just in case, however, I would like to have all knifes found in that house delivered to the laboratory for tests.”

They both then turn to look at Siwon, who stares back at them, dumbfounded.

Jongin gives him a long look. “What are you still doing there? Go inform the investigators.”

The other cop hurries off right away, apologizing as he goes. As soon as Jongin turns back to Sehun, the raven head gives him a shake of head, albeit he’s still smiling.

“What?”

“You didn’t need to sound so mean, Mr. Choi has done nothing wrong. He’s just not used to violent murders like this, Jongin, and I think you need to acknowledge that. Actually, I’ve noticed that you have a hard time acknowledging many things.”

The russet agent shakes his head quickly. “I do not.”

“You know, I know a good psychologist who works at the FBI. He helped me and I’m sure he can help you to overcome your troubles as well. If you want to, I can ask him if he—”

“No thanks, I’m perfectly fine as I am”, Jongin quickly interrupts, finally stealing his coffee back without caring that his hands might get a little bloody.

Sehun shrugs his shoulders, turning back towards the bodies. “Whatever you say. Oh, and please remember to wash your hands properly. Blood has the habit of sticking everywhere.”

The Special Agent mumbles a curse before quickly downing the rest of his coffee and heading for the sink close by. Only when he’s washing his hands does he actually realize what Sehun just said.

“Wait—you went to see a shrink?” he asks, turning around to look at the other.

Sehun gives him a nonchalant look. “Yes, I did. My boss was slightly concerned about the fact that I am not that cooperative with people I don’t know. He blamed it on my upbringing and the psychologist somewhat agreed to that—though, I myself just think the reason is that people are assholes.”

“ _You_ are not cooperative? Then what does that make me?”

“Oh, so you admit that you have a hard time working with new people?” Sehun grins, which is, once again, a little creepy since he’s holding the female’s liver in his hands. “And I’m much more cooperative than I used to be, for your information.”

“What was so wrong about your upbringing that it had even your boss worried?” Jongin can’t help but ask, ignoring the comment Sehun made about him. He has to admit—the raven head is an interesting person, having completely woken up the agent’s curiosity.

But unfortunately, Sehun just smiles softly and shakes his head.

“That’s a story for another time, Jongin.”

The russet agent is about to complain but before he can, a cop comes running down the stairs to the laboratory. “We have a suspect”, he tells. “Mr. Siwon is waiting for you two upstairs.”

“Perfect timing!” Sehun says, quickly removing his gloves and coat.

“Wait—who said that you can come—”

The raven head gives Jongin a pat on the shoulder as he walks past him towards the door. “Hurry up before the suspect escapes, old man.”

Jongin nearly—remember, _nearly_ —throws the male victim’s head at Sehun for that.

 

* * *

 

 By the time their third day there comes to an end, they’ve still got no real leads. All the suspects that they have met have been the victims’ friends or co-workers, but absolutely no use to them. Each of them seems to have some kind of an alibi to counterattack Jongin’s accusations.

Sehun hasn’t really found anything suspicious from the bodies. All the cuts have been clean and well-performed, which means that whoever did this, is either a doctor of some kind of a psychopath like the coroner suggested. And Jongin is slowly starting to believe him.

The russet agent groans in frustration and throws the files on his hands on the wooden table, slumping then heavily against the couch. Behind him Sehun chuckles, the sound of that still light although they’ll certainly be in trouble if they don’t solve the case soon.

“How about you take a short break”, the raven-haired coroner says, his tone surprisingly gentle and lacking the usual mischief. “Los Angeles is known for its parties, after all.”

“You think partying is relaxing?” Jongin asks, turning to give the other a glare.

Sehun just shrugs his shoulders. “No—but you seem like the guy who needs attention and you also look like someone who’d get exactly that.”

“And what do you mean by that?”

“Well, you’re hot. Objectively, that is”, Sehun explains, staring back at Jongin with a thoughtful look on his face. “Girls would drop on their knees if you’d just spare a glance at them.”

Jongin snorts. “Says you.”

“I beg your pardon?”

“You’re the one turning heads here. Don’t tell me you haven’t noticed—everyone we’ve met seems to have fallen for you, especially Siwon.”

The raven head laughs lightly and Jongin can’t tear his eyes away. When he said everyone, he meant it—Sehun is capable of making anyone fall for him and the FBI agent is not that much different, though he still finds the other annoying more than anything else.

“Why thank you, Jongin. I’m glad you think I’m hot, too.” And there it is, the mischief and sarcasm dripping from his words.

“Objectively”, Jongin tries but the glimmer in Sehun’s eyes tells him that his lie has been exposed.

“Suuuure, objectively.” The raven head walks up to the couch and drops down the files in his hand, his leg brushing past Jongin’s. The Special Agent doubts it was an accident and again, just a mere touch from the other is able to set his skin on fire.

“I’m going back to the morgue to check on the bodies once more”, Sehun then says, heading for the door. “If you’re not going to take a break, look through the files again or something, I might’ve missed something.”

“You don’t need a ride?” The FBI agent was half expecting Sehun to ask him to drive him to the lab.

The raven-haired coroner just smirks, already halfway through the door. “I think you’re forgetting that I know this place, Jongin sweetie.” And he’s gone before the pillow Jongin threw at him finds its target.

 

 

In the end, the russet agent doesn’t take any kind of break, other than three long breaths to calm himself down. Somehow Sehun just manages to rile him up as soon as he opens that pretty mouth of his.

 _You’re thinking weirdly again,_ Jongin thinks, shaking his head violently. _Damn that kid is so annoying._

He absolutely hates it when someone manages to confuse him and take the control away—and Sehun seems to only do that. He confuses Jongin to the point where he starts to question his very own existence and with that cunning tongue and clever brain of his, Sehun is just simply unbeatable—with words, at least.

The russet agent reaches over to the files Sehun had been looking through, fed up with all the reading but knowing that he needs to go through them again. Jongin at least should make sure that all the reports back home to Yifan are perfect—in case they can’t solve the murder. Their time in Los Angeles is running short already and Jongin knows that once they leave, that’s it. Siwon and his companions can’t solve this case without the connection Jongin has and the brain Sehun has.

Sehun had been looking through the suspects files, friends and co-workers of both the male and female victim, even family members. There seems to be nothing suspicious in them though, everyone seems to have some kind of an alibi that holds—just like Jongin already knew.

But when he reads through the file of the security guard that had escorted Neil Winestone out, something he hadn’t noticed before catches his eye.

Listed among the things the security guard had said is a particular sentence that makes Jongin frown. _“There was this man waiting for Neil outside the club”,_ the security guard had told Siwon, who had interrogated him. _“Or I think he was waiting for Neil—at least they left together.”_

“What the fuck?” Jongin says aloud, scrolling through the files in search of a suspect fitting that role. “How did I miss this?”

There’s nothing more about this mystery man the security guard had spoken of so Jongin is left with nothing—nothing more but a possible lead. “I have to call Siwon”, he mumbles, searching for his phone. “But first I should inform Sehun…”

The pathologist answers him after the fourth ring. _“Did you find something?”_ Sehun asks without even greeting, sounding strangely serious to Jongin’s ear.

“Yeah, I actually did”, the agent nods, staring at the open file on the table. “The security guard who escorted Neil Winestone out on Sunday night said that there was someone waiting for him—another man—”

 _“I think I know who it was”,_ Sehun interrupts him.

Jongin blinks his eyes in confusion. “What? How?”

_“I looked through the victims’ belongings—I thought the investigators would’ve done their job properly, but they didn’t. I found something from the female victim’s pocket and now that I’m looking at it, I think I also understand why we haven’t been able to find any leads before.”_

The FBI agent doesn’t like the sound of that—he knows what Sehun means even before the raven head says it.

 _“The murderer is one of us”,_ the coroner says, his tone completely lacking its usual cheerfulness.

“Sehun…”

 _“Listen, Jongin—don’t you think that it’s weird that we haven’t found any kind of lead? I know from experience that there is always something the killer misses. We’re not talking about some experienced serial killer here, after all”,_ the raven head continues, sounding even slightly annoyed. _“Someone has been hiding information from us. The lead you found right now too—where exactly was that file before coming to us?”_

“Siwon went through them first”, Jongin answers.

_“Yeah—and Siwon is the lead detective of this case. He has access to every evidence even before us, unless we found it before. Goddammit I was stupid, leaving the bodies into his care before doing a throughout check. We could’ve avoided this—this is exactly the reason I don’t work with agents—”_

“Sehun”, the FBI agent now interrupts the other, frowning as the other suddenly brings up his distaste towards cops. “Are you saying that it was Siwon who did this? What exactly did you find?”

 _We need some really good evidence if we want to put him behind bars,_ Jongin adds in his mind. He knows that around here, the detective is well-respected—they can’t blame Siwon without any real evidence behind their backs or Jongin could end up losing his reputation. And he’s sure that Sehun has his pride too.

_“Come to the lab, I’d rather show you this. And Siwon is here too, albeit he’s upstairs and has no idea that I’m here. I hope so, at least.”_

“You’re not in danger, are you?” Jongin asks, his frown deepening as he stands up, taking all the files with him. Instead of finding himself annoyed, he’s more worried than anything else—something very unusual of him.

Jongin is a very distrustful person, he admits that, but Sehun he finds himself trusting. So if he was to ever pair up with someone again, it would be the raven-haired coroner—so he can’t have the other dying or something, now can he?

 _“Well, you didn’t give me a gun”,_ Sehun says, his tone obviously annoyed. But then the cheerfulness Jongin almost found himself missing returns. _“But I’m very good at throwing knives, so please make yourself known before coming in, okay? I think I’ve become paranoid after spending so much time with dismembered bodies.”_

“Right. I’ll be there in half an hour, try to sort out your thoughts and make sure your evidence is _real_. We’ll discuss it once I’m there, got it?”

 _“Yes sir”,_ the raven head purrs and Jongin wishes he was there to now actually throw the male victim’s head at him.

 

* * *

 

Jongin parks the car by the streets rather than at the parking lot of the institute—just in case Sehun is right and Siwon does have something to do with this. At least this way the detective won’t know that the FBI agent is there.

He sneaks into the building and moves as quickly as possible, slipping down the stairs into the morgue that’s on the lowest floor. As he passes the couple of offices on his way to the stairs, he sees Siwon in one of them, furiously typing in his phone.

 _Physically he seems like someone who could cut up a body,_ Jongin thinks absently, giving a quick once-over at the man. _But he nearly threw up when he saw the bodies and that seemed like a genuine reaction…_

Because no one makes a scene out of Jongin appearing, the agent thinks he might’ve slipped past them all as he arrives to the morgue, calling out Sehun’s name—he’s not about to test just how good the coroner is at throwing knives.

The raven-haired man is facing away from Jongin when he steps into the cool room, eyes locked on the picture reflected on the white wall opposite of them. The FBI agent stops, curiously watching as Sehun tilts his head a little and sighs, his face void of the cheerful emotions Jongin is used to seeing. No smile, no twinkle in his eyes… now this is something _very_ concerning.

“…Sehun? Is everything alright?” the Special Agent asks, taking a couple of steps forward until he’s standing right behind the raven head.

Sehun inhales sharply, flinching as Jongin’s hand comes in touch with his. “Just… look at the picture, Jongin. Do you recognize the people in it?” he says quietly, glancing at the russet man with his brown eyes dull.

The other reluctantly removes his eyes off Sehun to look at the picture again, frowning. There are three children in it, standing side by side—one girl and two boys. It seems like it’s at least fifteen years old or possibly older, worn out from the edges with its colors. The girl’s strawberry-blonde hair is tied to a loose braid and one of the boys has his other arm sneaked around her shoulder. They seem close to Jongin, all smiling happily.

“Is that the female victim?” Jongin asks, pointing at the girl and Sehun nods.

“Yeah… and the boy with his arm around her shoulders, that’s Neil Winestone. They were childhood friends, remember? His mother told us that.”

“So, who’s the third guy?” The FBI agent turns his eyes to the other boy, whose brown eyes stare back at him emptily. He’s Asian and smaller than Neil, missing two of his front teeth and something in him is familiar…

“Siwon”, Sehun answers. “That’s Choi Siwon.”

Jongin gives the coroner a surprised look. “How do you know that?”

“His facial features give it away.” The raven head steps closer to point at Siwon’s chin. “It’s just simple biology, I suppose. This boy’s chin and jawbones are the exact same as Siwon’s, albeit lacking the prominence. His skull is the same, Jongin, I know it for certain. This boy and the detective somewhere above us, they’re the same person. He knew our victims.”

“That doesn’t mean he killed them. Do you have any _real_ evidence?”

For that Sehun sends Jongin a cold glare before moving to take the picture back, dropping it in what seems to be water. Then the raven head lets out a long sigh and shakes his head. “Unfortunately, I don’t have concrete evidence, no fingerprints or DNA if that’s what you mean.”

“Then this doesn’t mean anything!” Jongin says in frustration, throwing his arms in the air. For once it’s Sehun who looks like he wants to throw something at the Special Agent. “Listen, kid—we can’t start accusing Siwon without any concrete evidence. I could lose my job, the media would eat us alive. We need something real—”

“Just listen to me then, will you?” the coroner cuts in sharply, his eyes colder than Jongin has ever seen. Now the agent is slowly starting to believe that Sehun might’ve have some cooperation problems before.

“I know very well that you don’t like the idea of one our own being guilty of murder—not to even mention how violent this one was. However, your jealousy-theory could be right except Siwon is the jealous one. These two were his childhood friends.” He points at the two bodies on the tables. “And yet he showed _no_ emotion—no regret, no sadness—when he saw them.”

“Yeah well, he was close to throwing up—”

“We’ve been with him for days now, Jongin, and I haven’t even once seen him show any kind of grieve. That’s just impossible if these guys are his childhood friends plus they lived in the same city, so it’s possible that they were in contact with each other. We need to go and talk to the victims’ parents again to find out if Siwon is connected to them and if they were in close contact.”

Sehun seems so sure that it does make Jongin falter. The raven-haired pathologist is right, the FBI agent hates it when someone from their side is guilty—he has met corrupted agents before, even _worked_ with them, and the shock is always equally big. He can’t have another co-worker betray him like this.

And right now the possibility of Siwon being the murderer has his blood boiling. He is supposed to trust that the detective will have his back out in the field if things get bad—now with the doubt planted in his mind, he won’t be able to trust Siwon.

“Fine”, Jongin still relents, somewhat relieved when the glimmer of warmth returns into Sehun’s eyes. “ _Fine_ , we’ll go and meet their parents tomorrow without Siwon knowing. But if you’re wrong then we’re dropping this theory of yours.”

The raven head just nods before turning away from Jongin, eyes falling down to stare at the picture. The other’s silence is a little unnerving, but the FBI agent tries not to think too deep into it. He’s not here to make Sehun feel good or make friends with him—he’s here to solve a murder and that’s it.

“I know you don’t like me”, the coroner suddenly speaks up again, his tone soft and silent. “I really do know that, Jongin. But please keep your personal feelings out of this case. I’m here to just help you catch a murderer, in the end.”

The russet is slightly taken aback by Sehun’s words and he turns to give the other a confused look, but Sehun’s eyes are fixated somewhere else.

“Who says that I don’t like you?” he asks back.

Now Sehun turns to look at him, eyes twinkling and a smile on his face. It seems almost genuine. “You’re not very good at hiding your feelings, agent Kim.”

There’s a moment of silence, Jongin stopping to stare at the other while Sehun starts to clean up, his smile slipping away. Before this, the FBI agent thought that Sehun is not capable of anything but smiling—but now he thinks he was wrong about that.

Now Jongin thinks that Sehun is just forcing himself to smile, as a defense mechanism. To stop people from seeing the conflicted person underneath.

He can tell that his behavior has actually upset the other and guilt stings in his heart heavily. The Special Agent doesn’t like this, at all—what he likes is when Sehun is genuinely smiling, being his cheerful and annoying self.

Not this serious man who seems like he has seen nothing good in his lifetime.

“Hey”, Jongin calls out, tone surprisingly gentle as he reaches out to grab Sehun by his wrist just as he coroner is about to take of his lab coat.

Surprised brown eyes turn to look at him, confusion written all over Sehun’s face.

“Listen, I know I’m not very cooperative, you pointed that out already. And I also know that I can be an ass from time to time.” Jongin stops for a moment to think. “Well, almost always. But that doesn’t mean I don’t like you—I just find it hard to work with new people. And you’re _not_ even a cop, Sehun. Protecting you is my job right now, so when I tell you to stay here or behind me, I’m just doing it because I don’t want you to get hurt—not because I’d be afraid of you getting on my way.”

Sehun cracks a small smile. “You’re a little bit afraid of that, admit it, Jongin.”

The russet agent can’t really refute Sehun, so he just shrugs his shoulders with an unsure look in his eyes.

“Anyway, what I mean is that… I can’t put you in danger, I—”

“I know”, the raven-haired pathologist interrupts him before Jongin gets any further, gently prying the agent’s hand off his wrist. “Yifan told me to read your file, so I did. Your former partner, Do Kyungsoo, he died in one of your missions, right? Your boss said you never really recovered from that and that you hate working with others because of it.”

Jongin can feel his blood run cold at the mention of his old partner and he grimaces, looking away. He should’ve known that Yifan would force Sehun to read his file—he just hoped that this would never come up.

Kyungsoo’s death was _his fault_ , after all.

“He was more than a partner, wasn’t he?” Sehun then asks, tilting his head a little with a sad look in his eyes.

The FBI agent doesn’t answer to that, but his silence tells much more than words ever could.

The coroner then straightens himself and takes of his white coat, before offering Jongin an apologetic smile. “I won’t bring it up again, don’t worry”, Sehun says. “And since I know so much about your private things… I’ll tell you about myself, someday. But now—”

Sehun grabs the keys on a table close by and heads for the laboratory door. “—I’m going to go and visit my brother’s club. We don’t have many days left here and you’ve got to experience the nightlife of Los Angeles at least once. If you want to go back to the hotel, feel free to take the car.”

Jongin stays quiet for a moment longer, letting his thoughts run free before sucking in a sharp breath and turning to Sehun. The coroner stares back at him with concern still visible in his eyes, but a small, genuine and gentle smile on his lips.

“I-I’ll come with you, if you don’t mind. Thinking about something other than this goddamn case could do good”, he mumbles and now Sehun grins, as bright as ever and somehow, it eases the pain in Jongin’s heart.

“Sure, no need to ask for permissions from me. And oh—you can now go back to being mean to me, I think I prefer it. It’s very distracting if you act kind.”

They head upstairs side by side, Jongin letting out a snort. “Distracting? How?”

Sehun sends him a shit-eating grin, winking his eye. “I might just fall for you if you stop being an arrogant ass. And that’s a big no-no, sweetie.”

“First you call me an ass and then sweetie?” Jongin shakes his head, suddenly feeling like pushing Sehun down the stairs. “Is it really _that_ hard to say agent Kim?”

Sehun is the first one arriving to the car, of course picking the seat next to the driver—Jongin would never let him drive, no way in hell. The raven head’s eyes glimmer with mischief and the FBI agent can only scowl, waiting for an answer he gets once they’re seated inside and ready to go.

He suddenly feels the coroner’s hot breath by his ear, soft lips touching his skin ever so slightly when Sehun leans over.

“Then _make_ me say it, sweetie.”

Jongin nearly crashes into a streetlight thanks to that. He can feel his cheeks heat up and from the way Sehun leans away, laughing loudly, it also must show.

“I swear to god, Oh Sehun—you’re dead once we get out of this car—"

“Who says I’m going to let you catch me, hm?” comes the cheeky answer, Sehun wiggling his eyebrows at Jongin.

“You can’t run away from me”, Jongin growls to that, sending the other a glare.

“I’m not going to let you escape. Not in a million years.”

There’s a moment of silence and then suddenly Sehun coos. “Aw, that’s so sweet, Jongin. Now you’re really making me fall for you.”

And for some reason, the FBI agent doesn’t find himself minding that. He just smirks back at the raven head, deciding to play his game. “Just don’t fall too hard, kid.”

Sehun just laughs. “I’m not worried. You just promised to catch me, remember?” And then, with one last wink, the raven-haired coroner steps out of the car and heads for the crowded entrance of Romantic Universe.

 _This is going to be a long night,_ Jongin thinks with a sigh—yet for the first time in ages he finds himself grinning like a fool.

Sehun might not be the only one who should worry about falling.


	2. Part 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for the support on the first part^-^!! Now, I hope you'll enjoy this long-ass chapter! Sorry for all the possible grammar mistakes, too - I'm not a native English speaker.

It doesn’t surprise Jongin, when Sehun ditches him almost as soon as they step inside Romantic Universe. Thanks to the raven head being the owner’s younger brother plus just simply Oh Sehun, he gets them inside the club—once again—with a simple seductive smile—and as soon as they’re in, a man Jongin doesn’t know comes to them to ask Sehun for a dance—which to the raven head agrees, much to the Special Agent’s dismay.

It’s not like he’s exactly alone himself. Many come to ask him for a dance, men and women alike, but Jongin turns them all down. He loves to dance—before coming to America and becoming a cop, he used to dream of being a dancer. It’s a little weird to think about that now, if he’s allowed to admit though.

But tonight Jongin just wants to drink and loosen up— _relax_. He won’t drink himself drunk because tomorrow is another day at work, a day when he should be ready to solve two murders, so he can’t be hangover.

The russet agent finds himself standing by the bar counter soon enough, one of the bartenders—a beautiful woman—offering him a free drink. It’s some kind of a fruit bomb with a hint of alcohol in it; Jongin nearly grimaces at the overpowering sweetness, knowing that this is a drink Sehun would _love_.

Thinking about the coroner—the russet agent should probably try and keep an eye on him too. He can’t have the raven head drunk and hangover tomorrow when they’ll be heading to interrogate the victims’ parents. He’ll need the coroner’s brains in case something new comes up.

But Sehun’s brother’s club is _awfully_ popular. It’s full of young party-people, jumping around the space, filling Jongin’s vision completely so he can’t possibly see the raven-haired pathologist anywhere. He sighs in defeat after a moment of glancing around, hoping that Sehun has the brains to not get drunk—despite being probably the cleverest person Jongin knows, he is not as tactful as the russet hopes he would be.

“What brought you back here?” a familiar voice suddenly asks, Jongin raising his head immediately to see Mark Johnson, Sehun’s foster brother standing behind the bar counter. “My brother’s not with you?” The blonde man looks around in confusion before turning back to Jongin.

“He wanted to come and check this place out”, the Special Agent simply replies. “We’re off work right now, so don’t worry—I’m not here to interrogate or accuse you of anything.”

“So, he is here. But why isn’t he with you?” Mark asks.

“Some guy came to ask him for a dance and Sehun is too kind to say no, so he went along. Haven’t seen him since.”

In the dim light of the club Jongin barely notices the blonde’s frown. “So, you’re alone… Can I, then, have a word with you, agent Kim?”

Jongin of course finds this suspicious but agrees anyway. Soon enough he finds himself standing in a quiet hallway behind the bar, a place only workers have access to. Seems like the right place to kill someone, the russet agent muses as he looks around, his gun weighing on him heavily.

The Special Agent has become a little paranoid over the years, so whenever he’s put in a situation where he’s with a possible murder suspect—especially when there’s no one else around—he starts to automatically check his escape chances, counts how quickly he can pull his gun out and fire a shot.

Today he also wonders how fast he can find Sehun and if he can keep the raven head safe.

“So, what is it?” he asks, finding Mark’s behavior and silence unnerving.

“I just…” the blonde man starts, searching for the right words. “You do know that Sehun isn’t a cop, right?”

Jongin blinks his eyes at the older man, confused. _Of course_ he knows that, he said the same thing himself about an hour ago when he talked with the coroner. “Yeah, I know that. Why are you asking?” _Do you think I’m stupid?_

“Then you should know that you’re putting him in danger by dragging him to crime scenes and to talk with murder suspects”, Mark continues, his tone stern.

The Special Agent can’t believe he’s going through this talk with the blonde man, who seemed so uncaring a couple of days ago—with the foster brother Sehun doesn’t even seem to be in touch with. And _now_ the guy expresses worry towards the raven-haired coroner? Yeah right—Jongin smells bullshit.

“It’s his choice”, he answers calmly although within, he’s boiling. He knows Sehun doesn’t especially like Mark—the raven head didn’t even flinch when finding out that his brother is a possible murderer. And despite how he acts most of the time, Jongin has grown at least a little attached to Sehun—so he doesn’t like Mark acting like he cares when the truth is probably the exact opposite.

“Sehun knows the risk”, Jongin then continues, leaning on the wall behind him. “One part of the deal my department and his institute made, was for him to get to come along everywhere I go if it has something to do with the case.”

“That’s just stupid! What if he gets hurt? How can I trust you to protect him—you don’t even seem to like him, let alone cooperate with him! And in the end, he’s the one who’s going to have to trust you—for you to have his back.” Mark’s eyes flash in annoyance and anger, the blonde man taking a threatening step forward. For Jongin’s luck, he’s taller than the other man and far more better build.

Even if he wasn’t, he could still kick this man’s ass in less than three seconds.

Jongin’s about to answer Mark but then the blonde man says something that catches him off guard.

“Can I _trust_ you to have my brother’s back? Can I trust _you_ to not hurt him, agent Kim?”

The two men have a long staring competition, neither backing away the least although Jongin feels quite uncomfortable—because in a way, Mark is right. Can Jongin protect Sehun if something happens? If Siwon is the murderer, can Jongin protect the raven-haired coroner? The other is a trained cop—he knows how to handle a gun, and although Jongin is one of the best shooters in FBI, he has missed before.

And his mistakes have cost lives too. His mistake _is_ what ended up killing his former partner. Jongin can’t have that happening again—not to the sweet coroner.

“Listen here”, the Special Agent then finally growls, taking a step forward as well. “I don’t care about your opinion on me—you can hate me, that doesn’t bother me the least. But right now, don’t act like you care about Sehun, when I know you _don’t_. You haven’t been in touch with him for years, so don’t start lecturing me about how I should take care of him when that is _your_ job. Or was.”

Jongin straightens himself and prepares to leave. “Contrary to your belief, I will take care of him now. He _is_ my partner, after all.”

The russet agent then turns around, heading back towards the club’s main-area when Mark speaks again.

“Just… don’t hurt him. He’s a very fragile person, in the end.”

And those exact words never stop haunting Jongin.

 

 

He finds Sehun outside the club, surprisingly, waiting him by the car with a strange expression on his face—or should Jongin say, _no_ expression on his face. The other is just blankly staring at nothing, his usually so cheerful brown eyes empty.

“Everything alright?” Jongin asks when he reaches the other, placing one of his hands next to Sehun’s body with a frown on his face. “Sehun?”

The raven-haired coroner hadn’t even noticed him until then, quite literally jumping at the sight of Jongin. “Jesus fucking Christ! Couldn’t you have warned me a little, Jongin?” the other whines, a hand placed on his chest, trying to calm his racing heart down.

The russet agent just frowns, leaning closer until he accidentally bumps heads with Sehun. Muttering a quiet apology, Jongin continues to observe the other, searching for signs of pain or anything that doesn’t belong there.

He sees that the other’s lip is bleeding slightly, as if someone bit it and bruising on his neck that Jongin is sure wasn’t there before.

“What the _hell_ happened?” he growls out, his other hand coming to tilt Sehun’s chin up to see the bruises better.

The raven head, however, has other things in mind, slapping Jongin’s hand away weakly. “Absolutely nothing. Now, can you unlock the car, so we can leave? I’m tired and in the need of a shower.”

“Tell me first what happened? Who hurt you?” _Who the fuck do I need to go and kill?_ is what Jongin is really thinking.

“The guy you saw me leave with, you remember him, right?” Jongin nods at that and Sehun sighs, looking away. “He doesn’t like the answer no, I suppose.” Then, brown eyes turn back at him, cold and distant—the russet agent has never seen him look like this, both annoyed and defensive, scared like an animal driven to a corner.

“There, you have your answer. Can we go now?” Sehun then asks and slowly, Jongin nods. He’s more than a little surprised by the change of nature but then suddenly, Sehun smiles again, the familiar cheerful glimmer returning to his eyes.

“Wonderful! So let’s go then—we have to wake up early tomorrow.”

The Special Agent unlocks the doors and watches as the raven head slips inside the car, still smiling. He seems pretty okay to Jongin, not as shaken as he should be if asking from the russet agent—but then again, he _doesn’t_ know Sehun. And he’s sure this isn’t the first time something like this has happened, not when you look like the raven-haired coroner.

But this isn’t something Jongin wants Sehun to be used to.

He can’t stop the anger bubbling inside of him, the ugly feeling telling him to go and look for whoever hurt his partner and kill him—but when Sehun sends him a questioning glance, seeing that Jongin isn’t moving, the russet forgets it. If the other doesn’t want to talk about this, it shouldn’t be Jongin’s problem.

But it is, or so the Special Agent feels like.

Sehun seems to notice that something is wrong from the way Jongin holds onto the wheel so tightly, lips pressed into a thin line. The raven’s brown eyes look at him with concern but Sehun waits until they’re inside their hotel room before actually speaking up.

“It’s not that bad, you know”, he says, tone soft as he follows Jongin with his eyes. “The guy let go as soon as I threatened to scream.”

“Why didn’t you? I could’ve kicked his ass”, Jongin grumbles and Sehun laughs, the melodic sound of that somewhat calming the agent down.

“I have no doubt about that. But it wasn’t worth it, Jongin, and usually guys do let go when you threaten to scream. Especially when you know the owner of the club.”

“ _Usually_?” is all Jongin heard.

Sehun laughs again, already heading towards the bathroom. “Yeah, usually.” Then, he throws Jongin a shit-eating grin. “You don’t seem like that type of a guy though. I bet you’re good at making people scream in the bed.”

The Special Agent chokes on the water he was drinking, the sound of Sehun cackling echoing in his ears. Once again, the pillow he throws comes a moment too late, the bathroom door closing and locking behind the raven head.

Sehun only comes out once Jongin is already in bed, scrolling through his phone. He feels the bed dip slightly when the raven-haired coroner comes to lie next to him, his burning gaze on Jongin as usual. But unlike every other night before this, the Special Agent turns to look at him instead of turning away.

Sehun smirks, having obviously expected this but it turns into a softer smile as soon as he sees the frown on Jongin’s face. The agent is obviously still worried, and the coroner finds it strange and amusing, but also endearing. Seems like the tough guy isn’t as tough as he acts.

“It looks pretty bad”, Jongin mumbles, one hand slowly reaching over. Now that Sehun’s wearing just a loose white T-shirt, the Special Agent can see the bruises better, looking ugly against the pale skin. His lip is slightly swollen too, but not badly so Jongin isn’t concerned about Sehun being in pain—he’s concerned because the other seems _okay_ with this.

His fingers come in touch with Sehun’s exposed neck, sliding over the delicate collarbones. The touch sends electricity up his fingers and into his heart, making it race in a way Jongin has never felt before.

Or maybe he has, once before. He’s not entirely sure because Sehun makes everything feel new and different.

The Special Agent doesn’t notice how Sehun takes in a sharp breath, shivering under his touch—so Jongin goes on, bringing his hand up to the other’s swollen lips, frowning. He doesn’t even really realize what he’s doing—doesn’t realize that he’s invading the other’s personal space and _literally_ touching him the way he _shouldn’t_ —but Jongin doesn’t really care.

Not until he looks up, meeting Sehun’s wide brown eyes and sees the violent pink blush on the coroner’s face.

Now finally realizing what he’s doing, he turns red himself, but doesn’t pull his fingers away—for some _very_ stupid reason. His thumb stays on Sehun’s lip for a long moment, the other’s hot breath tickling his skin.

They stare at each other silently, Sehun’s wide eyes slowly returning to normal, the brown in them swimming with confusion and also what Jongin thinks is anticipation. The russet agent opens his mouth then, itching closer just the slightest thanks to some weird power overtaking him—but before he manages to do anything, Sehun jerks away, his cheeks beet red.

“Goodnight”, the coroner says in a panicked tone, turning away with the blanket tightly around his slim body.

Jongin can only stare at his back in confusion before smiling weakly. _Now who’s a panicked gay?_ he wants to ask but decides against it. Sehun would have a comeback ready for him anyway—he always does.

“Goodnight”, the russet agent just says in the end, turning around as well. “Sehun.”

 

* * *

 

 

The next morning, neither of the two speaks about what happened last night as they make their way to breakfast. The silence is unnerving, Jongin admits, but he isn’t too worried. From what he sees, Sehun’s only horribly flustered, nothing else.

And it’s amusing, for Jongin is once the one in control.

Sehun doesn’t seem to be too happy about it either, mostly grumbling under his breath as they eat quickly and then make the way to the car. It’s time to go and interview the victims’ families, finally. Maybe now the situation will finally clear out for them—maybe they’ll now find the killer.

The raven-haired pathologist has put some make up on to cover his bruises and luckily his lip isn’t swollen anymore—he looks almost normal, if you don’t include the haunted look in his eyes. But because Jongin knows all about painful pasts, he doesn’t question the other.

They all have something to hide, after all, and Sehun promised to tell him about himself later. When the time for that will come, Jongin doesn’t know.

About an hour later the russet agent parks his car in the yard of a big house by the suburbs of western Los Angeles, the childhood home of Emma Winestone. There’s an elder woman waiting for them by the door. She greets them with a hoarse voice, eyes still red from crying—it doesn’t take much for Jongin to guess that this is the mother of female victim.

“I don’t quite understand”, the already grey-haired woman starts when they’ve settled down inside the spacy living room. “Another detective already visited us—is there some specific reason you’re coming again? And now an FBI agent too… did something new turn out?”

Jongin and Sehun share a somewhat nervous glance, before the coroner leans closer, an old picture in his hands.

“We found this in Emma’s pocket”, he says in a soft tone, all the earlier frustration gone. It’s replaced by kindness—gentleness that seems so genuine no one could even begin to question it. Even Jongin, who has a lot of experience when it comes to talking to victims’ parents, is amazed by how comforting Sehun’s tone can be.

The female victim’s mother, Rachel, takes the photo and right away, tears start to form in her eyes. “I gave her this when we last saw, three weeks ago”, she whispers, her green eyes glimmering sadly. “It was taken the day she started school. The two others… this one is Neil and this one—”

“Choi Siwon, right?” Sehun ends for her, shaking his head softly when the older woman tries to offer the photo back. “Was he a good friend of her?”

Rachel nods her head. “Yeah… he was. He used to live next door but moved away when Emma was sixteen, I think. She kept contact for some time but at some point, they fell apart and she started dating Neil. She was so…” Big tears fall from the woman’s eyes and Jongin’s sure she’s about to break down, but surprisingly, still keeps going.

“Emma was head over heels for Neil. She loved him so much… so when I heard about his sidesteps, I was so angry. And I bet Siwon would’ve been angry too, had he known. He used to be so protective of her… I told her to divorce him and she was going to—she said she found someone else… but it’s too late now. Now she’s gone, now my little girl is gone—”

The rest of her cries she silences against Sehun’s shoulder, for the coroner jumps from couch to another to comfort the elder woman. Jongin sighs softly, understanding that they can’t keep bothering her anymore—he just writes all the new information down on his memo while Sehun keeps muttering gentle words to the victim’s mother.

They leave the house not too much later, debating whether to visit Neil’s parents as well or not.

“Siwon didn’t come here”, Sehun mumbles when they’re seated inside the car. “He said he’d go and break the news to them—but that woman hadn’t seen him since he moved away, that’s for sure.”

“He must’ve assigned some other detective to do this for him”, Jongin agrees, scowling as he drives off.

A smile slips on Sehun’s lips as he turns to give the agent a smug look. “So, are you finally starting to believe that my theory might be right?”

“I… I guess you _might_ be right”, the Special Agent admits with a grunt, sending Sehun a glare but the other just looks at him with a beautiful smile on his lips. Jongin can’t keep glaring at him for long when he sees that. “But before you start screaming in triumph, hear me out. I think I might’ve figured out the rest of your theory.”

“You mean the motive?”

“Yeah.”

Sehun keeps his brown eyes locked on Jongin, those beautiful orbs wide with honest curiosity. “Then, tell me.”

“So, what we’ve learned now, is that Neil was having an affair with someone else—it wasn’t Emma like I first thought, but the male victim”, the agent starts. “Also, if I understood correctly, the mother was never sure whether the female victim and Siwon stayed in contact. So, let’s imagine that they did—he was very protective of her and when she tells him that Neil has been cheating on her, Siwon takes matters in his own hands.”

“At first he threatens him to stop and fix things”, Sehun adds, eyes widening with realization. “Neil tries to fix it, like my brother said. But then he falls again and this time, Siwon ends it for good.”

“And Emma is at the wrong place at the wrong time”, Jongin ends. “Siwon panics and kills her too. And he blames Neil for that, so he lets out his anger on him—hence the dismembering.”

“And his motive for all this is…?”

Jongin grins, sending a satisfied look at Sehun. “Siwon loved her.”

The coroner’s lips twitch up as well, a familiar cheerful glimmer in his eyes. “That actually… stands to reason.”

“See? _My_ intuition was not completely wrong, after all”, Jongin says smugly, still grinning widely.

“Neither was mine!” Sehun argues back.

That the Special Agent has to admit. “Okay then… teamwork?”

Sehun grins. “Teamwork.”

 

* * *

 

They arrive back to the laboratories about two hours later. Now that they’ve got the whole case supposedly figured out, Jongin wants to go and confront Siwon about it. Of course, he doubts that the other detective is just going to confess—but there’s no such thing as perfect murder or murderer, so there’s a chance that Siwon might simply slip something and Jongin is going to clasp onto that _something_ tightly.

“I’m going to go and check on the bodies and the rest of the physical evidence once more”, Sehun says as they step inside. They were informed that Siwon should be there too, so Jongin says that he’ll go and see if that’s true.

As soon as Sehun disappears downstairs into the morgue, Jongin can feel an unsettling feeling swirl in his stomach. For a second there, he is about to call the raven-haired coroner back just because of the sudden coldness that creeps up his spine, but then the agent figures that that’s plain ridiculous and leaves it be.

It’s not like Sehun’s far away from him and it shouldn’t really matter even if he was. Or so Jongin can keep telling himself, but he feels uneasy without the raven head’s quirky comments and warm presence by his side—it’s a miracle how fast he has gotten used to him and still, in a couple of days they’re most likely going to say goodbye to each other.

 _Stop thinking about that like it’s a bad thing,_ the russet agent reminds himself. _You never wanted a partner. You don’t need a partner, they always get on the way._

What Jongin means, is that he always fails to protect them.

The Special Agent spots one of the permanent workers there and goes up to the woman, asking if she has seen Siwon come around. He’s told that yeah, Siwon did come there, visited the morgue and left maybe a minute or two before them.

“He didn’t come by car though, so if you hurry, you might still catch up with him”, the female worker adds just as Jongin is about to head away. “He went towards the beach.”

“Really?” Jongin stops for a moment to ponder whether he should run after Siwon right away or go down and tell Sehun about it—but seeing as the other detective left a few minutes ago, he shouldn’t waste anymore time. Not when a murderer is walking the streets of Los Angeles while carrying the title of a detective—someone who should protect people instead of killing them.

“If a raven-haired guy comes to ask for me, tell him I left after Siwon and that he should go back to the hotel, okay?” he tells the woman without any further thoughts, before thanking her and running off, no protests allowed.

Following her instructions, Jongin heads towards the beach. It’s surprisingly empty today, maybe because it’s Sunday and people are trying to recover from their hangovers—maybe the russet agent shouldn’t be happy about that, but he is. It makes spotting Siwon easier.

And as if on cue, Jongin sees a familiar silhouette walking amongst bunch of kids, his tall figure rising above the others. The Special Agent speeds up until he’s only about seven or eight meters away from the other detective.

“Siwon!” the russet then calls out, successfully taking the other off guard. Siwon turns to look at him with wide brown eyes and for a moment it seems like he’s going to stop and wait for Jongin—after all, he shouldn’t know that both Jongin and Sehun have (possibly) figured out the truth about him.

But then something seems to alert him. Maybe it’s the way Jongin is already reaching for his gun or the glimmer of handcuffs the FBI agent has hanging from his belt, but before he can say another word, Siwon dashes off.

“Hey! Siwon, stop!” Of course, Jongin doesn’t expect the other to listen but hey, a man can always dream.

Cursing under his breath, the Special Agent runs after the man. He’s at disadvantage here—if he loses the sight of Siwon, he’s going to lose him entirely. Jongin doesn’t know Los Angeles like he knows Washington DC _or_ Seoul, his actual hometown. Now he even slightly regrets not bringing Sehun along because the raven-haired pathologist would know better.

But at least Jongin is _faster_ than Siwon. While the other detective does find the strangest and most crowded place to run through, Jongin keeps on closing in. You don’t get to be an FBI Special Agent if you’re not physically strong, fast and flexible. Obviously, to be a normal detective, they don’t require all that.

It seems like they’re running around forever, getting further and further away from their starting point. Jongin must admit, Siwon is one persistent man—usually the people he ended up chasing would give up at some point and turn around to fight, which was a _big_ mistake because Jongin _never_ lost a fist fight… so maybe Siwon had thought this through, after all.

But the closer Jongin gets, the better chance he has when it comes to shooting Siwon. He’s not going to hesitate to do it anymore because running away so suddenly is definitely suspicious—even if Siwon is not the actual murderer, he knows _something_ and Jongin needs all the information he can get.

The Special Agent raises his gun when they turn to an empty alleyway, deciding that this is the safest place to shoot.

“Siwon, I’m warning you one last time! Stop running or I’ll _make_ you stop”, Jongin growls out, his gun aimed at the other’s leg. Of course he’s not there to kill him, maybe just mildly injure so he’d stop.

Surprisingly, the other detective does stop running, turning towards the Special Agent while breathing quite heavily.

“I should’ve known better”, Siwon grimaces. “You can’t just shake off an FBI agent so easily, can you?”

“Definitely not”, Jongin agrees, never lowering his gun. “Now how about you come back to the station with me without me having to shoot anyone?”

Siwon smirks with beads of sweat running down his face. “Oh no, agent Kim. You’ve understood wrong. I didn’t stop because I’d be scared of you shooting me; I know you can’t kill me yet, I haven’t even confessed anything.”

“So, you are admitting that you did it?”

“I’m _not_ admitting _anything_ , agent Kim. I’m simply telling you that you can’t kill me yet, you have no concrete evidence against me.”

“Sehun will find some”, Jongin says, firmly believing so. “He’s the most stubborn guy I know—he _will_ find evidence against you.”

“The pretty one?” Siwon asks with an unimpressed look on his face, and Jongin almost shoots him from that alone. This shit has no right to talk about Sehun so objectively.

“I don’t have to worry about him anymore”, the other detective then says and before Jongin can stop him, Siwon reaches over to take something out from his pocket. It’s an old phone, the detective’s finger lingering on the biggest button of it, ready to press it.

Jongin’s eyes widen in horror. “Is that…?”

“ _A bomb_?” Siwon asks, grinning madly. “Why yes, it is. And can you guess what I’m about to blow up? I’ll give you a hint—all evidence will disappear with it.”

“The institute.” _Where Sehun is._

“That’s correct”, the other singsongs, but his cheerfulness is obviously faked.

The russet agent can’t tell whether Siwon is bluffing or not and he can’t take the risk of that. He has been in a situation like this before and many times criminals have just been bluffing, but there have been times when they were serious, too. And it’s always so goddamn hard to know what to do.

Should Jongin just shoot Siwon now? He has the right to do so, but if there’s no bomb, it’s going to seriously affect his career and possibly Jongin himself. But what if there’s a bomb? What about _Sehun_?

“Ahh… I think I know what you’re thinking about”, Siwon says with a grin. “You’re worried about the pretty one, aren’t you? I’ve been wondering… you are kind of possessive about him. Are you two, perhaps, sleeping together?”

“No!” Jongin quickly denies, his hold on his gun almost faltering just because he’s feeling incredibly flustered suddenly.

“Well either way, you care about him. So, are you ready to risk losing him, too? Am I bluffing, agent Kim, or am I telling the truth? Because if I am, your friend is as good as dead.” The other man smirks, seeming so satisfied with himself.

Jongin’s finger is really starting to itch to press the trigger, the mouth of the gun pointed straight at Siwon’s heart. He swears if the other is going to say anything bad about Sehun and he _will_ shoot him.

“Stop right there, agent Kim”, Siwon speaks up again, still smirking. “You’re not the only one with a loose trigger finger. You can shoot me, but I promise you, I will still manage to press this button and your beloved will die. And maybe, if I don’t manage to press it, I have a partner out there. Maybe they’ll do it for me, then. You don’t know that, do you now?” The russet agent doesn’t even care to correct the other about Sehun being his “beloved”. He’s simply too pissed off and scared to do so.

Jongin has been suddenly forced into a situation where losing his partner is, once again, a possibility. And he’s scared—he’s _so_ _fucking_ scared of making the wrong decision. He’s scared of ending up hurting Sehun.

“I won’t set off the bomb if you let me go now”, Siwon says, obviously enjoying the conflicted look on Jongin’s face. “Lower your gun and let me walk away, and I promise you, the pretty one will be alright. For now, at least—but I can’t promise I won’t hurt him if you come on my way again.”

“Leave Sehun out of this”, Jongin growls. “He’s not a cop. If you want someone to fight, pick me.”

“How sweet of you, agent Kim, but I know better than to fight with you directly.”

The Special Agent sneers, but he isn’t surprised. “You’re a fucking coward.” Bombers are _always_ cowards, attacking those who can’t possibly defend themselves.

“A coward who will win this”, Siwon chuckles, looking proud. “Now, how about you lower your gun and walk away as well? We can settle this without having to kill any innocent. The pretty one, though, I don’t think he’s one of those innocent people.”

“What do you mean?”

The other just smirks. “Everyone has secrets, agent Kim. Some of them, however, aren’t something that should be exposed to light.”

Jongin lowers his gun at those words, now confused. “What the _hell_ does that mean?”

“Oh, you’ll find out, in the end. Until then, I really hope nothing happens to you or your beloved one. It would be sad if something would ruin that pretty face of his, wouldn’t you say?” Siwon taunts and Jongin’s hand starts to shake from rage.

_This guy is honestly begging me to shoot him…_

“Well, anyways! I have to go now, agent Kim. Hopefully you’ll have a nice day.” The other waves at him seemingly calm before turning around.

Jongin doesn’t shoot him, no matter how he wants.

Instead, he turns away, slipping his gun back under his jacket and heads back towards the institute.

 

* * *

 

The building is just like it was when he left it, but now there are a couple of black cars outside—the bomb disposal squad came as soon as Jongin called them, explaining that there’s a chance that the institute might blow up any moment now. And also, he wants to know whether Siwon just fooled him.

Sehun is waiting for him at their car, arms crossed over his chest and an angry expression on his face. When Jongin reaches him, the raven-haired coroner straight up punches him on the chest, _hard_.

“You _idiot_! What were you thinking, running after him all alone? You could’ve gotten hurt, Jongin!” Sehun scolds him right away, sounding as distressed as Jongin feels.

“I had no time to wait for backup”, he tries to reason with the angry coroner. It’s weird to see him like this, angry and upset. How many sides does the raven head have in him? Are there still some Jongin hasn’t seen? “We could’ve lost Siwon. And now I know for certain that he did it. He killed them.”

“Was he also the person threatening to blow this place up? Is that why you returned empty-handed?” Sehun asks, still an unimpressed and annoyed look in his eyes, but his tone is a lot softer now.

“Y-yeah…” Jongin nods, sighing in defeat. “I couldn’t know for certain if he was bluffing or not, so I had to let him go. What if there’s a bomb somewhere hidden in the building? You could’ve died, Sehun.”

“Was that your main concern?”

“Of course! Did you think I was going to let you die? Partners have each other’s backs, right? I can’t even stand the thought of you being hurt because of my mistake!” _I can’t stand the thought of you being hurt, at all._

Silence falls between them. Sehun’s brown eyes turn from angry to sad, then a small smile forms on his face and Jongin can feel a warm hand graze his own. “I don’t know whether I should hit you for acting alone like that or kiss you for what you just said”, the raven head says softly and Jongin can feel his cheek heat up dangerously.

And before he can stop himself, he blurts out “I pick the second option!” like an idiot. His voice sounds like he went back to the time before puberty, goddamn Jongin didn’t even know he could go that high.

His answer leaves Sehun stunned for exactly ten seconds, before the coroner lets out a loud laugh. “Catch me a murderer and then we’ll see.”

“Oh, I’m going to catch him. And hopefully I’ll get the chance to beat him up in the process as well”, Jongin mutters darkly at that, earning another laugh from Sehun.

He turns to look at the raven-haired coroner better now, searching for signs of hurt. But Sehun seems alright to him, if you exclude the small scab on his lower lip thanks to last night—but there are no signs that someone would’ve tried to hurt him now, so Jongin can breathe a little easier.

“You should probably go and alert the station about Siwon. We can’t give him the chance of getting out of Los Angeles or we’ll lose him completely”, Sehun then points out, startling Jongin slightly. He should’ve done that first, to be honest.

But the man in front of him had pretty much messed up everything, especially Jongin’s priority list. Now Sehun stands at the very top of that list.

“Then we can head back to the hotel. I’m still going to complain about you ditching me, I promise you that…” The raven-haired pathologist rubs his head tiredly. “But finding Siwon is our top priority and I think I know a couple of places he could be hiding at.”

 

 

Sehun spreads a large map on the table before slumping down on the couch next to Jongin, their legs brushing past each other. It sends, like always with Sehun, warm electricity up the agent’s body. Now it’s much more muted than before, much less shocking—much more _familiar_.

“So, there are already patrols checking over his current neighborhood to see if he went there, my brother’s club is being examined and some are at his parents’ house. To us, it leaves the neighborhood where the victims and he grew-up together. Which unfortunately happens to be quite a big place”, the raven head sighs, drawing a red circle around the area they had been at this morning.

“These all do seem rational choices in some way, but wouldn’t it be more rational for him to just find some new place to hide? Why go back to where he started?” Jongin can’t help but asks, turning his brown eyes at Sehun.

The raven-haired coroner has a calm look on his face, his lips curled into a gentle smile, the glimmer in his eyes warm like always. “He’s scared, Jongin. This is his first murder and now all the cops in LA are hunting for him _and_ the media knows too. He has no place to hide, not really, so in the search of safety, he’ll return to one of these places.”

“He didn’t seem very scared to me.”

“Yeah well, everyone can act. And speaking of that… you know the bomb squad didn’t find anything, right? The building was clear”, Sehun asks, worriedly glancing at Jongin.

“I heard about that”, the Special Agent sighs, rubbing his temple in agony. “I’m sorry that I let him go, Sehun. We could’ve had the rest of this day and tomorrow free before heading back to Washington.”

The pathologist just smiles sweetly. “Don’t apologize. I would’ve done the same, had I been in that position. There’s no way you would have risked the lives of dozen people just to catch Siwon.”

That’s not completely true. Jongin had only been thinking about _Sehun_ , he barely even remembered that there had been other lives at stake as well. If the raven-haired man had been by his side, Jongin’s sure he wouldn’t have let Siwon go so easily.

Silence falls between them as Sehun turns back to stare at the map with a frown over his sharp features while Jongin sinks back into his own depressing thoughts. He of course feels guilty for letting a murderer go just like that and disappointing Sehun, but more than that, he’s concerned about Siwon’s words.

“Sehun… he mentioned something weird when we talked. He was talking about you”, the russet agent speaks up after a while, thinking that he should confront Sehun about it before his head will explode from all the stupid questions in his mind.

“Hm? Why? I don’t know him”, Sehun says, not even sparing a glance at Jongin.

“He said that you’re not _innocent_ ”, Jongin blurts out and of course that sounds pretty fucking stupid. Sehun even seems to question his sanity, sending a confused look at the russet.

“If he meant that I’m not a virgin, then he’s damn right about that.”

“I don’t think he meant that.” _Though, you can never be too sure_ , Jongin adds in his mind. “He also said something about secrets and that some should never be exposed to light—”

 _“Aha!”_ the raven-haired pathologist cuts in just a little _too_ perfectly, shutting Jongin up. He turns to look at the agent with excitedly glimmering eyes, his smile wide enough to show off those perfect white teeth.

“I think I know where we can find our murderer.”

 

 

The sun has long disappeared from the sky of Los Angeles when Jongin and Sehun step out of the hotel and head towards the waiting black car. The pathologist is chirpy as ever despite that the clock is nearing twelve at night, happily skipping forward while Jongin practically drags himself after the other.

“We should wait for the other patrols to check the place out before bursting in, alright?” he says when they’re seated inside the car, ready to drive off. “There’s no knowing if he’s heavily armed or worse, actually put up a real bomb this time.”

“He’s not a bomber, Jongin”, Sehun chuckles at that. The russet agent nearly corrects him—nearly tells Sehun to call him agent Kim—but he stops when he realizes that he hasn’t been reminding the other about that for the whole day.

He realizes that he doesn’t care _or_ mind.

“He’s just a scared man, desperately trying not to get caught”, the raven head continues as Jongin drives out of the hotel’s parking lot. “So, I am sure he’s armed at least with his gun and maybe the missing kitchen knife… oh, by the way. Now that I think about it, if we find that knife in his possession, there’s a chance I can find enough evidence for us to connect him to the murder.”

“Siwon’s not stupid enough to keep the murder weapon around.”

Sehun just shrugs his shoulders. “A man can always dream, right?” He then grins and takes two small devices out of his pocket. “Recorders, then. Let’s try and make him admit it. You know, I’m very good at annoying people and you are a force to be reckoned with. And no one’s perfect—he’ll slip as long as we know what button to press.”

The raven head leans over to put the other recorder on Jongin, the device itself looking like a black button. It fits the black of Jongin’s suit perfectly and from afar, a human eye is not capable of noticing it. After making sure that the device won’t fall, Sehun—unfortunately—leans away to put his own on.

“You’re not seriously going to come in with me, are you?” Jongin asks with a tight tone, worriedly glancing at the man besides him. He doesn’t think Sehun has a gun or any weapon other than his wit with him—and that’s not good, no matter how smart the other is. Thoughts can’t stop bullets.

“Of course I’m coming!” Sehun cheerfully says, grinning at Jongin. “But don’t worry, I’ll defend myself if needed. And it’s going to take some time for the other patrols to arrive there and you need someone to watch your back—so, I’m going to do it.”

“Sehun…”

“I won’t get on your way, I promise that too”, the raven head adds quickly, but Jongin just sighs. That’s not what he meant.

“I’m not worried about that. I just… I don’t want you to—”

“Get killed? Yeah, I understand that, but I don’t want you to get killed either, _Jongin_ , so just shut up and accept my help. I’ve dealt with criminals before too”, Sehun interrupts, an amused smile playing on his lips.

“You’re still not a cop.”

The other just laughs. “And never will be, thank the gods for that.”

Jongin can’t understand how he can be so chill about this, when they could get seriously hurt, even die. But something about Sehun’s calm and cheerful attitude seems to ease his nerves too and Jongin can breathe just a little easier as they continue on in silence.

They arrive to Siwon’s old kindergarten quite soon thanks to almost no traffic, Jongin leaving the car quite far away so the criminal inside wouldn’t notice. The reason Sehun thinks their murderer is here, is because while it’s a familiar place, it would be quite unexpected for Siwon to come there. Also, there’s an abandoned warehouse about hundred meters behind the actual building, hidden by bushes and trees.

It does seem like a good hiding place, Jongin admits that. Only the people of this part of the town supposedly know about it, so the Los Angele’s police department probably has no idea there is such a building—it’s not on the newer maps, as Sehun had checked.

“How did you find out about the warehouse anyway?” Jongin asks quietly as they make their way around the kindergarten building, the FBI agent tightly holding onto his gun.

“I saw a picture of the female victim when she had still been in kindergarten in her parents’ house. It was taken around somewhere here, I think”, Sehun answers before looking straight ahead, Jongin following his gaze. And truly, you can see the silhouette of a small building in the dim moonlight.

“At first, I didn’t pay much attention to it, but then I noticed that the whole building was missing from the maps currently on use. Anyone not from here wouldn’t know about it. So, I just pieced a couple of things together and _voilà_ , there you have it.”

The Special Agent sighs, sending Sehun a small grin. “You are a genius after all.”

“Did you really doubt me?” the raven-haired coroner asks with an amused smile on his lips, and Jongin must admit that he never, not even _once_ , doubted Sehun’s brains.

“Nah, I didn’t”, he answers which only makes the other smile brighter. “You made it pretty clear from the very start you’re the smartest person I’ve had the chance to meet.”

“Well, aren’t you nice today. What got you in such a good mood?” Sehun jokes and Jongin can’t help but chuckle—just a couple of days ago he found this attitude of Sehun’s annoying as hell, now it’s just _mildly_ annoying and more endearing than anything else. He _really_ could get used to this.

“Anyway”, the coroner speaks up again, turning more serious. “We should maybe have this conversation after catching Siwon. We shouldn’t talk anymore either, or he’ll hear us.”

Jongin nods to that, easily agreeing with Sehun. They have to be careful—Siwon has an advantage, since he has cover and knows the surrounding are much better than both Sehun and Jongin. Also, the night is almost pitch black—if it wasn’t for the moon, Jongin wouldn’t see shit and he’s not about to use his flashlight to possibly ruin things. Who knows; maybe Siwon is watching them from the window?

“One more thing, Sehun.” The agent stops the raven head before he takes a step forward. “Please stay behind me.”

He can see that Sehun is about to protest but maybe it’s the pleading and slightly scared look on Jongin’s face that stops him. “Alright”, the other nods, letting Jongin take the lead and the Special Agent feels a bit better right away.

If Sehun really has read through his file, the raven head should know that Jongin’s first and previous partner was killed by one troublesome street gang they had been trying to take down. Kyungsoo died because _Jongin_ let him go _first_ —even when he had been the more experienced agent and could’ve _survived._ Sehun should know that Jongin led his partner to death.

The russet agent swore to never let that happen again and until Sehun came along, Jongin had always refused to have another partner or even really work with others (hence his little brawls with Park Chanyeol, another idiot Special Agent Jongin unfortunately knows).

Now he sees Sehun as his partner, for the raven head never cared about his opinion and just barged in—now Jongin is stuck with him, _wants_ to be with him, so he _can’t_ let him get hurt.

“Let’s go”, he says, nodding towards the warehouse. “We should catch him before the other patrols arrive and he realizes to escape. Did you check what’s behind the warehouse?”

“A pretty big pond”, Sehun mutters and Jongin nods once again.

“Water should at least slow him down.”

Then they continue their way towards the murderer, moving as fast as they can while staying low in case Siwon—or someone else—decides to open fire. Jongin must admit, the feeling of someone having your back is reassuring and for some reason, he _easily_ trusts that Sehun will watch his back.

No matter how annoying the other can be, he is trustworthy. And it’s been way too long since Jongin felt this close to someone and they’ve only known for less than a week, for god’s sake.

Life can, truly, be full of surprises. All Jongin can say that in the end, he’s goddamn happy to have Sehun as his partner.

They get all the way to the front door of the warehouse, Jongin is more than a little surprised that they’ve gone unnoticed by Siwon. Surely the other detective must be on watch—it would be foolish not to be. Unless…

“This is a trap”, Sehun whispers Jongin’s thoughts aloud, curing softly under his breath. “But he might still be inside there. What do you think—” Before the raven head can even finish, Jongin decides to take action by literally kicking the door down, with his gun and flashlight raised right away.

That’s the first time he hears Sehun let out a sound that’s close to being scared.

On the first glance, it seems like the warehouse is empty but then suddenly the raven head behind him lets out a warning sound and something flashes in the moonlight before Siwon, who had been hiding in one of the darker corner—dressed completely in black, of course—let’s out a pained scream.

Jongin’s eyes widen in surprise and he turns his gun towards that corner but Siwon is already making a run for it, slipping through the backdoor. Both Sehun and Jongin run after him.

“Did you just throw a surgeon knife on his hand?” the russet agent asks, a bewildered expression on his face.

Sehun grins wryly. “I told you I’m good at throwing knives, didn’t I?”

So, maybe even if his wit alone can’t stop bullets, knives sure can do damage.

Siwon heads straight for the pond which Jongin can’t understand but hey, now he has the advantage. They’re on higher ground, Siwon has his back turned at them and Jongin could shoot him on the head even with his eyes closed.

“I would stop right there if I were you, Choi Siwon. Unless you want your head blown away, that is”, he calls out loudly, his gun aimed straight at the back of Siwon’s head.

The other detective doesn’t stop, he just laughs and looks back at them. “You can’t shoot me”, he yells back while holding his bleeding arm. Right there, standing in the middle of a shallow pond with his arm bleeding and eyes wide, Siwon truly looks crazy.

“He’s a psychopath”, Sehun once again puts Jongin’s thoughts into words before the agent can do it himself.

“I agree.”

“I’m not sure whether he’s serious or not. I mean, you can shoot him. Just, don’t kill him yet.” Sehun frowns. “Unless you’re about to try another bomb-trick!” he then yells at Siwon.

“No, not this time, unfortunately. I had my fun with your boyfriend already and _boy_ , he _was_ fun to play with. You should’ve seen how worried he got over you”, the other says back, his tone laced with amusement. “I thought it was adorable.”

“Like the way you worried over Emma?” Sehun asks with raised brows, an unimpressed look on his face. He calmly ignores all the comments Siwon makes of Jongin and instead, stabs right back with something that hurts a lot more. “That is, before you killed her.”

Siwon narrows his eyes. “Don’t you, _kid_ , start playing your mind games with me. You don’t know anything about her—about _us_.”

“First of all, Siwon, I’m twenty-six so I can hardly be considered a kid”, Sehun snaps back, probably finally fed up with the nickname Jongin has used on him for the past four days. “Secondly, you just admitted that you knew the victim and left it unmentioned in the case.”

Jongin nearly smirks. If this goes on, Sehun really could make Siwon confess without the other man even truly noticing. _Maybe it was a good thing that I took him with me,_ the russet agent thinks.

“That’s doesn’t even matter anymore”, Siwon counters but Jongin can see a glimmer of doubt in his eyes. Seems like Sehun was right about him being scared, too. “You’re not going to catch me—AH!”

“Good shot”, Sehun chuckles next to Jongin, who had just shot Siwon on the shoulder. “Definitely hurts but it shouldn’t kill him.”

“Thanks.”

They listen as the other detective curses loudly, now leaving his bleeding forearm to clutch onto his bleeding shoulder. “You two will die painful deaths, I promise that to you”, Siwon grits through his teeth, seeming unnaturally pale in the light of Jongin’s flashlight. “Especially you, pretty one. I’ll torture you day and night, ruin that perfect face of yours and make your boyfriend watch as you slowly die—”

“And blah blah blah”, Sehun cuts in, shaking his head. “How about you stop talking for once and just come back here so neither Jongin or I need to get our shoes wet. You know, it doesn’t even matter whether you confess or not, I have enough evidence to put you behind the bars for good. But whether you want to live or die depends on yourself—but just so you know, neither of us is kind enough to let a murderer go. Especially when you murdered an innocent woman who _loved_ you.”

Jongin almost asks if they really have enough evidence but Sehun pokes him weakly on the arm to tell him to shut up. So, most likely they do _not_ have enough evidence without a confession but Sehun is either trying to fool Siwon or wait until the man bleeds to death from his wounds—which is unlikely, but it doesn’t stop Jongin from hoping.

“Don’t talk like you knew her!” Siwon practically screams at Sehun, who lets a satisfied smirk slip on his lips for a couple of seconds before pulling his poker-face back on.

“I’ve learned to know her quite well in the past days. She, Neil and you grew-up together—you were like siblings, except you loved her more than as a sister. But unfortunately for you, she fell in love with Neil and broke your heart. Then, when Neil broke her heart, you decided to play Prince Charming and save the damsel in distress.”

“And she believed you”, Jongin continues, Sehun giving an approving nod to him. “She _trusted_ in you Siwon—she loved you. And _you_ killed _her_. You didn’t even bury her and now you’re running away from justice. You could at least man up and take responsibility, and not for your own sake, but for Emma’s. Show us that you at least partly deserved her love.”

 _You didn’t deserve any of it,_ is what both Jongin and Sehun are thinking but sometimes you have to lie to catch a murderer.

Siwon’s eyes turn a little sad, _guilty_. “I l-loved her, you’re right about that but I would have never h-hurt her let alone _kill_ her.”

“Your voice is shaking, Siwon”, Sehun calls out. “Even you yourself don’t believe in your own words.”

“But I wouldn’t have done it! She didn’t deserve what she got, unlike that son of a bitch Neil. He deserved to die like that, killed by a mere kitchen knife and then butchered by a fucking tomahawk—how ridiculous!”

“How’d you know?” the raven-haired coroner asks and Jongin freezes. Even _he_ didn’t know that the male victim had been sliced to pieces with a tomahawk—seems like Sehun should be the only one aware of that fact, asides from the killer of course. Also, it looks like they might have enough evidence after all. Jongin’s sure his boss is going to take it without hesitation, as well as the prosecutor and the judge.

“I found out the other weapon just today, but I didn’t manage to tell anyone about it because someone said there was a bomb in the institute. So, how do you know it was a tomahawk?”

The other detective is visibly panicking now, probably the loss of blood and fear making him go insane. Jongin is a little afraid that Siwon is going to die of some seizure before they get the confession out of him.

“I didn’t say that—I-I mean, I just guessed… I’m familiar with tomahawks because—”

“Your grandfather has a one. He was interested in Native Americans and collected all kinds of old things, didn’t he? And the reason it took me a while to recognize the weapon was because it is _hundreds_ of years old and not many have that specific model—your grandfather, however, does. So, if we now send a team to check his house and find that tomahawk, how soon do you think we’re going to find evidence of blood on it?”

“It could have the blood of animals on it”, Siwon tries but Sehun just chuckles at that.

“And you think I can’t tell the difference between a human’s and an animal’s blood? Try again, Siwon.”

The other detective grits his teeth together so hard Jongin swears he hears it and then quickly he pulls out his hidden gun—but the FBI agent was already expecting that, so he’s able to shoot it right out of Siwon’s hand and it drops into the pond with a ‘plop’.

“It’s over, Siwon”, he says, turning his gun back to point it at Siwon’s forehead. “Give up and admit that you did it. Let Emma and Neil rest in peace—let _her_ rest in peace, you know she deserves it.”

“If you really loved her as much as you say”, Sehun continues, his tone turning from mocking to gentle surprisingly quick. “Then just give up and come back here. Surrender and _live_. You’ll be in the prison for the rest of your life, that’s for sure, but _at least_ you’ll live.”

 _And I sincerely hope you spend every day regretting what you did_ , Jongin thinks.

Siwon hesitates, his whole body trembling and all the earlier cockiness is gone, replaced by sorrow and fear, guilt so strong Jongin can almost touch it. After a long, silent moment, the other man speaks up again.

“I-I didn’t mean it”, he says, his voice barely above a whisper. “I really didn’t mean to do it. Not to her, just… not to her. She shouldn’t have gotten hurt, never.”

Jongin decides to leave the fact that Siwon was the one who hurt her unsaid and maybe it’s better for them all to stay silent now. Jongin and Sehun got what they want and Siwon will face justice—better justice than his own, twisted one.

 

* * *

 

About fifteen minutes later more cops arrive and Siwon is taken to be patched up by some paramedics before he’ll be send to prison to wait for his trial. And knowing that, Jongin can finally sigh in relief.

They watch silent from the sidelines as the other cops scout the area for any kind of danger—they have to take into consideration that Siwon threatened to blow things up, says the head of the department to Jongin, no matter how the FBI agent says that it was all bluffing.

He can feel that no one is happy about how things turned out. It’s always hard when one of your own betrays you in the most horrible way, the agent understands that—but he doesn’t regret catching Siwon. And he knows that neither do the other policemen—there’s something FBI and normal cops can agree with, and that is that criminals should never run free.

“Well”, Sehun sighs next to him, smiling softly. “It’s a case closed, I guess.”

“Yeah”, Jongin nods. “Only the paperwork is left. And about that… I’m going to have to write a long report to Yifan why I used my gun. That’s going to be… great. And your whole knife-throwing thing—”

Sehun laughs lightly. “I’ll take care of it, don’t worry.”

Just then Siwon walks past them towards one of the police cars, ready to be delivered away. His face is downcast, and shoulders slumped—a sign that he has, truly, given up.

“Oh, I forgot”, the raven-haired coroner next to Jongin suddenly says. “I still have something to say to him. Wait over here, I’ll be back in a moment.”

“W-what— _wait_ , Sehun—” But the other is already going, hurrying after Siwon and leaving Jongin to stand alone under the streetlight. The Special Agent watches Sehun talks to one of the cops for a moment before seemingly getting permission to speak with Siwon—then he disappears inside the car right after the criminal.

Jongin feels nervous at that, not liking how they’ve been left inside a small space—Sehun all alone with a murderer, but then again, this night should show him that the raven head is capable of taking care of himself better than just simply fine.

 

 

Inside the police car, Sehun settles down next to Siwon with a peaceful smile on his face. The now ex-detective doesn’t look up to him—it doesn’t seem like he even notices the coroner until he speaks up.

“I heard that you talked about me to Jongin.”

Siwon visibly flinches but keeps his eyes on his feet.

“He told me that you were making comments about my innocence and about the things I’m possibly hiding”, Sehun continues with a light tone, sending an amused look at the man by his side. “You should’ve known better than that, Siwon.”

“I don’t know you”, the ex-detective says with a tired tone.

“Of course, you don’t. But you have obviously heard rumors, haven’t you?”

“About your family? Of course I have. I worked at Seoul for a year and there almost every cop knows about your family. Although, not many know about you, I recognized you to be one of them from the very first moment I laid my eyes on you”, Siwon answers.

“I see… well, I thought that I should make some things clear with you, Siwon.” Sehun leans his arm on the window and then his head on his arm, still smiling at the other man. “I have nothing, absolutely _nothing_ to do with _them_. I am not part of that family, I’m not one of them—I will _never_ be one of them. So from now on, do not call them _‘my family’_. I might get angry if you do.”

Siwon shakes his head. “I won’t.”

“That’s good to hear”, Sehun smiles a little wider before making the move to leave. “And one more thing, dear.”

The ex-detective turns to look at him with his brown eyes wide with fear and expectation.

Sehun’s smile turns quickly from peaceful to daunting. “Don’t mess with Jongin ever again if you value your life at all. He has nothing to do with them and I’d like to keep it that way. Are we clear?”

Siwon can only nod, fear stopping words from coming out of his mouth. The coroner’s smile turns from daunting back to cheerful in less than a second.

“Perfect”, he says. “Now, I hope you’ll enjoy your life in prison. But don’t get too cozy, Siwon. No place in this world is safe.”

And then Sehun leaves the other in doubt, softly closing the door after him.

 

 

When Jongin sees the raven-haired coroner step out of the police car in one piece and seeming completely okay, he feels at ease. And he feels even better when Sehun heads straight to him, smiling brightly.

“Did you miss me already?” the coroner asks with a cheerful tone, patting Jongin on the cheek playfully.

“In your dreams”, Jongin answers but they both know better.

Then, all of a suddenly before the russet agent manages to make another comment, Sehun leans closer and presses their lips together into a gentle and quick kiss. Jongin is completely stunned by this sudden move and can only stare at the other open-mouthed when Sehun leans back and smirks, obviously satisfied with himself.

“For catching the murderer.”

“I—uh-huh…” is about all Jongin can say to that, the warmth of Sehun’s lips still lingering on his own.

Sehun laughs with his eyes full of fiery sparkles. “Alright, I _totally_ understood that. Now, can we go back to the hotel?” He’s already about to turn away when Jongin suddenly grabs his hand and spins him around rather roughly, pressing their lips together before Sehun can protest.

This time it’s not a short or a particularly gentle kiss—it’s powerful and passionate, the fire inside of Jongin finally free. He kisses to devour and Sehun answers with the same amount of yearning, curling his arms around Jongin’s neck to pull him closer. Neither care if someone sees— _oh_ , Jongin realizes that he has been wanting to do this from probably the very first time he saw Sehun and finally he has the other in his arms, so _of course_ he’s not going to care about the anyone else.

When they pull back to breathe after a long and hot kiss, Jongin feels like he’s drunk—like he’s completely intoxicated with the sweet taste of Sehun, his slightly flowery scent and comforting warmth.

“Okay, we definitely need to head back to the hotel now”, Sehun mumbles, his now red lips just barely inches away from Jongin’s. The raven head tugs at the agent’s jacket and even the slow-witted and dazed Jongin realizes to move.

“Definitely”, he agrees, letting Sehun to drag him to the car. Seems like this night is far from being over.

 

* * *

 

Jongin doesn’t know whether this is going to last or not, whether they’ll go back to being strangers after returning to Washington DC—so he makes sure to leave his marks all around Sehun’s pale skin.

He’s mercilessly leaving hickeys on Sehun’s neck, the raven-haired coroner writhing under him so beautifully and finally seeming completely out of all those snarky comments. Jongin has to savor this moment as well as he possibly can.

It’s a weird coincident that the sheets of their bed are red today, the color that fits next to Sehun’s pale skin almost a little too perfectly. He’s so fucking beautiful Jongin almost stops kissing him just to stare at him.

“Hurry the fuck up, Jongin”, Sehun then whines, his hot palm coming to rest right above Jongin’s crotch, the heat seeping through the agent’s shirt, melting him. “We can go slow and loving on the second round—now I want you to make me _scream_.”

“Jesus Christ, you really are not innocent”, Jongin mumbles to that, but he’s smiling and so is Sehun.

“No”, the raven head whispers, leaning up to breathe against the russet’s lips before suddenly overthrowing him, placing his legs tightly around Jongin and sitting above the other’s crotch.

“I’m the _fucking_ devil in disguise.”

Don’t even ask why but that sultry tone and dangerously glimmering eyes are a _huge_ turn-on for the russet agent.

It’s Sehun’s turn to mark Jongin’s skin with hickeys and even scratch marks from his nails—but instead of pain, the agent just feels thrilling pleasure which goes straight to his dick. Clothes come off fast and when the coroner’s hands finally rest on Jongin’s tanned abdomen, all he can do is whistle.

“You _are_ ripped.” It’s the first time Sehun sees Jongin without a shirt because the other is usually adorably shy—and _damn_ , was the wait worth it.

“You kind of have to be for this kind of a job, but thanks anyway.” Jongin then slides his hand over the pale skin of Sehun’s chest. Unlike him, the raven head isn’t that buff; instead, his muscles are sculptured lean and beautiful, but somehow still defined and powerful, more than enough to make some jealous and _everyone_ drool.

It doesn’t take long until they’re both naked and Jongin gets to touch those thick white thighs and that _perfect_ ass for the first time, Sehun gasping softly at the flaming hot touch of Jongin’s hands. They kiss and touch, feel each other until it starts to get too hot for them, both aching to be even closer than this.

“There’s lube in the drawer on my side”, Sehun mumbles against Jongin’s lips, his lust filled eyes gazing deep into the agent’s.

“How do you…?”

“I didn’t plan this, I swear. I think the hotel just left a little gift for us—I also think there are condoms inside.”

“So, you’re okay with me doing the fucking tonight?” Jongin then asks while he’s already reaching over at the drawer, his body practically moving on its own.

“Maybe I’ll fuck you later”, Sehun just grins and Jongin nearly chokes—and then the raven head dares to let one of his hands wonder down to the agent’s already hard cock to make him moan. “But I want _you_ inside _me_ , _right now_.”

 _“Shit”,_ Jongin just curses at that, his fingers finding a condom and a small bottle of lube quite fast.

He presses the raven-haired coroner deeper onto the bed, one hand possessively on his waist to keep him in place as he spreads lube on his other hand. Sehun’s right—they should leave the “love-making” for another time. Now they’re just both simply sexually so frustrated that there’s no time for that.

The raven head’s breath hitches just the slightest when Jongin pushes the first finger in. Thanks to him putting on a generous amount of lube, the sound of him finger fucking Sehun is so obscene that it makes them both turn slightly red, Sehun even more so.

“Fuck, you’re tight”, Jongin groans as he adds the second finger and finally makes a loud moan escape Sehun’s lips. And that if anything goes straight to his dick—that’s the prettiest sound Jongin has ever heard, the second prettiest being Sehun’s laugh.

“A-ahh… Jongin please”, the raven head whimpers when Jongin curls his fingers inside of him, the heat turning uncomfortably strong.

The sound of Sehun begging is something Jongin could hear some more. Now the russet agent is the one in control—Sehun can’t do anything but moan _oh-so_ prettily and beg for more. And control is something Jongin enjoys, as well as pleasuring the other.

He pumps his fingers in and out of the other in a steady pace at first, but when he adds the third finger, Jongin speeds up. Sehun’s body trembles at the sudden force and he throws his head back with a moan when Jongin hits his prostate head on.

The raven head arches his back and Jongin uses this as his chance to lean down and leave hickeys on his chest as well, his tongue stopping to play with one of the hard buds. That makes Sehun moan again, fingers curling around the brown locks of Jongin, searching for something to hold on.

The russet keeps scissoring him with three fingers, stretching him open for what’s to follow next. By now, every move he makes has the other whining in desperate need, his body jerking every time Jongin even slightly grazes his sweet spot.

“ _E-enough_ … Jongin please, that’s enough”, Sehun gasps out between moans, pulling Jongin’s head up to kiss him. “I’m ready.”

The russet agent doesn’t argue back, getting a little too hot and bothered himself. He puts the condom on his hard cock and spreads some lube on the heavy length before positioning himself by Sehun’s entrance.

The coroner looks at him with expecting, teary eyes. “ _Please_.”

There’s nothing more Jongin needs to hear.

He pushes in slowly but steadily, a low moan escaping his mouth when he feels the tight heat of Sehun’s hole pull him in. Jongin only stops for a moment when he’s flush against Sehun’s ass, both of them breathing heavily as they gaze at each other, Jongin hovering above the coroner.

“Move”, Sehun moans quietly. It sounds more like a plead than command and Jongin gladly gives him what he wants.

At first he, of course, keeps his thrust slow and somewhat gentle, letting Sehun adjust to his size and their position first. The approving moans and hums are like music to his ears—but there’s something Sehun was right about.

Jongin _loves_ to make people scream in the bed and right now, he’d very much love to hear Sehun screaming his name in ecstasy.

“ _Haa_ —!” the other cries out louder when Jongin speeds up, thrusting in with more force. Soon enough the room is only filled by the sounds of their moans and skin against skin, _somewhat_ obscene but at the same time, all the noises Sehun makes just seem to spur Jongin even more.

“F-faster, please—” Sehun stutters out and Jongin complies once again, feeling his orgasm close in awfully quick. But he can tell that Sehun is not going to last very long either, the earlier teasing having driven him to the edge already.

He thrusts into the other in a brutal pace, nearly bending the other half in the process—but thank god Sehun is flexible. And seeing him like this is probably the sexiest and most beautiful thing Jongin has ever seen.

Cheeks flushed bright pink and mouth open for moans of Jongin’s name to slip out, he looks _absolutely_ wrecked and beautiful at the same time.

“Please please please, _oh_ _please_ —Jongin ahh!” A scream of pleasure echoes through the room when Jongin strikes Sehun’s prostate head on with his cock and continues to abuse that spot relentlessly.

“That’s it, baby. Scream for me”, the agent growls in a nearly possessive way, one of his hands still gripping onto the other’s waist tightly and one coming to capture Sehun’s wrists to pin them down against the bed.

The raven-haired coroner whines at that, his body convulsing from pleasure and it’s not hard to tell that he’s nearing his climax.

Jongin leans down to press their lips together into a sloppy kiss, tongues dancing and teeth clashing. The whole time, he continues to thrust into the other, swallowing down the sweet moans of Sehun. When he pulls back, they’re both gasping for air, Sehun trembling under him.

“Oh god— _Jongin_ please, I’m going to—”

The russet agent understands, feeling that same tight heat coiling inside of him, wanting to break free. He speeds up even more if that’s possible, slamming into the other in an animalistic pace. And Sehun screams again and again, until his eyes roll back, and his scream turns into a silent moan as he comes hard.

The incredibly tight heat of the other drives Jongin easily off the edge as well, the russet’s hips flush against Sehun as he comes inside the condom with a low groan.

He collapses almost right on top of the other, their sweaty and dirty bodies tightly against each other. It takes a while for the both of them to regain the power to think clearly, let alone talk.

“That was...” Jongin mumbles, amazed and still out of breath.

“Amazing?” Sehun suggests. “Damn dirty?”

“Both.” Jongin then turns to look at him, nearly pumping his head against Sehun’s. They’ve never lied this close to each other before and the russet admits, the warmth of someone else’s body is comforting in ways he can’t even understand.

“Why didn’t we do this before?” he then asks and Sehun dares to laugh.

“Because you were being a panicked gay _and_ a dick.”

“Oh yeah.” _I guess it’s my bad then,_ he thinks but the other doesn’t seem to mind. Instead, Sehun sits up despite his sore ass and leans then to hover above Jongin, his lips right on the russet’s.

“Second round in the bathroom? The one who gets there first gets to top. And oh—should we try the handcuffs? I know you’ve wanted that since day one.” His tone is back to teasing and Jongin can’t help but roll his eyes (though the thought of Sehun handcuffed in the bed gets him half-hard).

The raven head is already out of the bed when Jongin regains his senses, but the russet agent is competitive, after all. He won’t lose to Sehun so easily.

“Oh, you’re so going to lose”, Jongin smirks before hurrying after the other.

And yes, those handcuffs eventually joined them.

 

* * *

 

Yifan is waiting for them at the airport when Jongin and Sehun return to Washington DC after a full day of sun and peace in Los Angeles. As soon as the russet FBI agent sees his boss’ face, he knows that there’s a new case for him.

“Good job”, Yifan nods to them after they’ve said their hellos. “I’m glad to see that you didn’t kill each other.”

“We almost did”, Sehun jokes and Jongin can see that Yifan easily believes that.

“Anyway, you can return back to your institute. They’ve been asking about you—they’ve found some man possibly from the Middle Ages and are waiting for you to come and check it”, the tallest out of the three then continues.

“Oh my god, really? That’s amazing!” Sehun beams. Jongin can only frown at that—he doesn’t get how old bodies are that interesting or amazing, but he has learned that Sehun sometimes has a questionable taste. As an example, the amount of sugar he puts in his coffee… god, Jongin can’t understand that _at all_.

“Really”, Yifan sighs, obviously disturbed by Sehun’s cheerfulness as well, before turning to Jongin. “And you’re going back to the field right away. Chanyeol needs your help.”

“I’d rather not”, Jongin grumbles but his boss has never cared for his opinion. Sometimes it’s good—like in Sehun’s case—sometimes it’s not. And it’s _never_ good when Chanyeol is involved.

“I don’t care”, Yifan says just like Jongin expected. “You’re going, the car is waiting outside already. Now, say bye to your partner and get your ass on the move.” Then the taller man heads away, leaving Jongin alone with Sehun. (Well, not entirely alone, since it _is_ a busy airport.)

He turns to the raven head, who’s smiling warmly at him, arms crossed over his chest. “So… I um, I have to go but—”

“Let’s stay in touch?” Sehun suggests with a raised brow and Jongin nods.

“We’re partners, after all. I’m probably going to need your assistance soon enough—if, of course, a fresh murder is more interesting than Middle Age men.”

“No, they aren’t”, the coroner answers with a laugh before winking his eye. “But you definitely are.”

Sehun then grabs his luggage and looks around, obviously searching for someone. “Well, a friend of mine should be here to pick me up. I should go—”

“Wait, one more thing”, Jongin says, stopping Sehun from disappearing into the crowd. “You promised to tell me about your past but you never did.”

The raven head smiles mysteriously. “Another time, Jongin”, Sehun says. He then steps forward to leave a gentle kiss on the russet’s cheek.

“That’s a story for another time.”

Jongin wants to protest but because time is running short, he doesn’t. He just hopes that _that_ another time comes soon enough. “Ah… I see.”

“I’m going to go now”, Sehun says, giving one last firm squeeze to Jongin’s hand—and like always, fiery sparks spread all over Jongin’s body, warm and familiar. “Call me if you need me. And you should definitely come and visit—bring your handcuffs when you do.”

Sehun winks his eye and runs off before Jongin can smack him, disappearing into the crowd with a loud laugh. That’s a sound the Special Agent is going to miss—but Sehun’s right. Jongin has his number and there’s something Jongin is _finally_ right about as well.

They are partners and partners have each other’s backs. So, of course they’ll meet again.

Following Sehun’s lead, Jongin then heads out to where a black car is waiting for him. Just when he has managed to sit down, his phone lets out a loud ‘ding’. He’s got a new message.

The Special Agent grins when he recognize the number. There’s an address and five other words in the message.

_> >Go catch me a murderer.<<_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Soooooo, I hope you guys liked the ending, though it certainly left some questions...XD But if you haven't already noticed, this story is part of a series and the second part will come up at some point - hopefully, lmao  
> I know the whole murder case was probably a big disappointment, but I'm not a very wise person. My only weapon is my sarcasm, not my wit (so basically I'm stupid lol)
> 
> I hope you guys enjoyed despite this being so goddamn long and maybe I'll kick off a second part soon. Also, I want to mention that I love writing Sehun as a shady bitch (also I'm joking about the bitch part, chill mate) 
> 
> One more thing - I'm sorry if the smut was lame, but the chapter was getting really long... so yeah, lame-smut, I'm sorry ヾ(´▽｀;)ゝ


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